The Ones Who Bump Back
by TheViewer-X
Summary: Ben Tennyson thought he'd seen it all, but when an investigation leads him down a road less traveled, he will find his horizons broadened once more, as he enters a world of monsters. Watch as he teams up with a group of young monsters in order to face off against other monsters within the plain of existence only known as the Dark Realm.
1. Pathos: Part 1

_**A/N: Foreword. Hey there, I call myself TheViewer-X! Thank you very much for checking out**_** "The Ones Who Bump Back!" _Be_**_**fore**** we begin, I would just like to point out a few things before we start.**_

_**For those wondering, this takes place after the events of Ben 10: UA, where Ben has lost the Ultimatrix but has received the new Omnitrix, however, there will be differences between the in-canon one and this one. For Annabeth Chase, this is after the events of the Heroes of Olympus series, and I'm fairly open with everyone else, but you can presume for (most of them) it's after the events of their respective stories.**_

_**Secondly, there are differences in certain characters in regards to who knows who. Some characters have cross-franchise familiarity with one another. Some have met before, some have been friends, some have never met, some merely have passing familiarity. Just bear that in mind moving forward and keep an open mind.**_

_**With that said, enjoy the show...**_

* * *

_**...**_

_**I've never been one for being afraid,**_

_**Or running away from a fight,**_

_**But I shiver with fear, whenever I hear**_

_**Things that go bump in the night.**_

**…**

For centuries, the Earth has been ever growing. Ever changing. The horizons are not limited, and have only continued to grow as decades pass. Extraterrestrial beings coming to public conscious, giant monsters becoming a normality, the change has become the one constant that humankind can rely on.

But little known to the majority was the fact that the world as they knew it was, in reality, two worlds kept separate by divine laws. The world that humanity thought they knew was what is known as the "Light Realm," for its harmonious relationship with the sun and the rest of the known world. And there is a second layer kept beneath them, out of sight and hidden away in the shadows, known as the "Dark Realm."

The Light Realm, for what it's worth, is where the majority of humankind lives. But the Dark Realm is the world of monsters and mythical creatures. Very few of their kinds ever intermingle with either Realm, for the reasons as to ensure that the humans and monsters do not destroy one another, as they have every reason to do so. And so, the monsters remain hidden out of sight, most tending to keep to themselves.

Until now…

* * *

"Woah!" Ben said in surprise, jumping out of bed and landing hard on his bedroom floor! He had a ringing in his head as he slammed his skull against the carpeted ground, the dream he'd experienced surprising him out of his sleep. Something about a… "Dark Realm"? A world of monsters?

He pushed himself back up, kicking a smoothie cup in the process. One of about fifteen that were littered about his room from the binge that he'd had that night. He was even still wearing his clothes from that day thanks to the fact that he had been keeping himself up all night in a continuous game playthrough until he physically could not keep awake anymore. "Maybe that's the last time I do one of those for awhile," he thought to himself, chocking his dream up to just an after affect of his all-nighter.

He pushed himself back up and prepared to get ready for the day. No school, so sleeping in a bit was no trouble, but at this rate he couldn't see himself going back to bed. He was probably going to just take a shower and head over to Mr. Smoothie because… what else was he going to do with himself?

He took his shower, scrubbing himself down entirely, before he exited and wrapped his waist in a towel as he began to dry his hair with another. While he did this, a noise caught his attention, causing him to freeze in place. A noise that sounded suspiciously like… whispering. Ben looked over his shoulder, where he thought he heard the noise, but found nothing. Now feeling increasingly uncomfortable, he looked around to see what was going on exactly.

_Okay,_ he thought to himself._ At this rate, I know for a fact that something is going to pop up and try to kill me. Between Ra'ad, then the Nanochips, then Albedo, things just seem determined to ensure that I don't get a good night's rest when crap like this goes down._

Just as soon as he began making it out, the whispering vanished. Ben did not let his guard down for an instant, his eyes scanning about to see where he might find the source. Sure enough, a second noise got his attention thereafter. A squeaking noise.

Once he turned his head back around, his eyes gleaming past his mirror, that's when he felt his heart leap into his throat! On the mirror, in the steam, a word began spelling itself out. Two words, in fact.

His mind went blank as he watched the words spell out, trying to ascertain what he was reading. This was straight up horror movie levels of creepy, but Ben remained planted in place as he began making out what he was seeing. A "T" a "K" an "O" an "S"

His heart outright stopped when he heard a knock on his bedroom door! He looked to the door's direction, before turning back to the mirror, where the steam had just about vanished, the words that had been spelt out now gone. Half-prepared to transform, Ben slowly edged over to and opened his bedroom door, but was filled with relief as he saw Gwen standing on the other side.

"Oh, it's just you," Ben said.

"Hey Ben," Gwen replied. "Listen, I'm sorry to- Uh… Ben, are you okay?"

Ben hadn't thought about it, but was certain that in his current state, he probably didn't look exactly like his best. Combining his lack of sleep with his prior paranoia and the fact he hadn't even gotten dressed yet upon getting out of the shower, he was probably a visible mess. But, he didn't have time, or the attention span, to worry about it.

"Oh I'm doing great," Ben replied. "So, what brings you here? At this hour?"

"Well," Gwen replied, "we have a situation. A situation that I feel is in our field of specialty."

"How so?" Ben asked.

"A few hours ago," Gwen replied, "I got a blip reporting that nearly a dozen people suddenly just dropped almost simultaneously. They're not dead, but are caught in a catatonic, almost vegetative state. Out of sheer curiosity, in case this did have to do with aliens or something, which I had safe reason to believe, I looked into it and found something wrong with them."

"Aside from the obvious?" Ben asked.

"Yes, aside from the obvious," Gwen said. "When I found them, I discovered that their mana… it's black."

"Black?" Ben asked. "Like… corrupted?"

"That's the best way I can describe it," Gwen said. "There was no positive energy in there whatsoever. No wonder these people just dropped."

"So what does that mean for us?" Ben asked. "Think this has something to do with Charmcaster?"

"I can't say for certain," Gwen replied. "But I will be doing some heavy investigating into the magical realms like Ledgerdomain in order to see what I can find. I'm letting you know so you can hopefully cover the bases up here for me while I'm gone."

"Sure thing," Ben said. "Good luck Gwen. Come back safe."

"Always," Gwen replied. "Hope you can get some rest." She waved farewell, as Ben shut the bedroom door behind her. As he turned back, the final heart attack of the evening arrived with the sight that laid before him on his bedroom wall!

Scrawled out in scratchy, messy lettering in some kind of a green ooze was the same name that had been written out on his bathroom mirror in steam. The same name that a disembodied voice had been whispering to him. Now large, and imposing, and clearly visible for Ben to make it out: Touka Kirishima.

Ben turned back to the door, prepared to jump out and find Gwen while he still could! But to his horror, he saw even more words written in the same green, oozing, scratchy font on the door: You Have To Find Her!

Ben took a deep breath. He looked about the room, trying hard once more to understand where the source of all of this was coming from! But to his annoyance, he could not. For what must've been twenty minutes he waited for more activity to occur, not even bothering to properly dress himself, until he was finally certain that things had died down and whatever it was that was causing all of this was just no longer going to do anything.

"Yeah…" he said to himself. "I don't think this one's going to be over so quick."

* * *

**The Ones Who Bump Back:**

Pathos.

* * *

**Chapter One: The Alien, The Demigod, The Ghost, and the The Ghoul.**

With a satisfied sigh, Annabeth Chase pushed herself back from her work desk, a grin plastered on her face. There was nothing she enjoyed more than breathing in the fresh forest air in the early hours of the morning, still wearing her pajamas, and doing some architectural designs that would change the face of the freaking world. Well, nothing she enjoyed more aside from smacking face with her boyfriend, but that was neither here nor there.

She opened those stormy gray eyes of hers and stared at the ceiling, wondering what she could do with herself later today. Seeing Percy was a must, and making that delivery also had to happen, despite how much she would rather just not do it, but other than that her schedule was gonna be totally open. She was determined to get herself some coffee, so maybe getting that delivery over with could happen first just out of sheer convenience.

She took another breath, this one leading into a sigh. She didn't want to do that. But she felt that she must, since she already went through the preparation for it.

"Uh… A-Annabeth?" she heard Grover say, knocking on the door to her cabin for emphasis.

Annabeth let loose a breath. Whenever Grover came over, it was usually for something that was going to leave her head spinning in cartwheels that would take hours to stop. "Grover," she said, getting up from her desk and swinging the door to her cabin open, facing the skittish satyr personally, "what is it? Because, quite frankly, I was enjoying a good morning to myself not five seconds ago."

"U-uh, w-well, you see t-the thing-!" Grover said sporadically, which only made a headache claw its way further into Annabeth's skull. "Y-you have somebody that wants to s-see you?" Grover finally finished.

"Who?" Annabeth asked. The only people that knew she was in Camp Half-Blood would be either her family or Percy, nobody else. Because there was nobody else.

"W-well," Grover replied, "i-it's uh… I-It's B-B-Ben Tennyson…?"

Annabeth did a double take, turning on her heel and facing away from Grover as a look of utter disbelief ebbed its way across her features. Did Grover just say that the biggest hero in the entire flipping world, maybe universe, had come here asking for her? Just to clarify, she spun back around and faced Grover again, doing everything to ensure her mouth did not drop agape. "Wanna run that by me again?" she asked.

"It's like I told you," Grover replied. "Ben Tennyson - as in Ben 10 - just walked up to the barrier and began flipping out around it when he saw that he couldn't get past it, turning into different aliens and everything! Once some of the counselors went up there to ask what he wanted, he said that he was looking for you!"

Annabeth wondered for about half a minute about what she could do in this situation! What did Ben Tennyson want with her? How did he even know where to find her, she hadn't even met him before!

But that's when she remembered. She'd met his cousin. She'd told his cousin that she lived in Camp Half-Blood because she trusted Gwendolyn as a powerful magic user, even if she didn't reveal her status as a Half-Blood. She never dreamt that Gwendolyn would ever tell Ben Freaking Tennyson that she lived here! What would happen if people had followed him?

Choosing to worry about that as it came and to just take care of the current dilemma by figuring out just what Ben wanted with her, Annabeth proceeded to walk past Grover towards the hill that acted as the main entrance to Camp Half-Blood. She didn't bother putting on shoes. She didn't even bother with proper pants, and just sauntered out still wearing the pajama shorts and tank top she had already been wearing!

"W-w-wait!" Grover said. "You're just going up there?"

"Yes," Annabeth replied. "I mean, he's Ben 10. He's a hero. If he's here, he must have a good reason."

"B-b-b-but-!" Grover said frantically.

"Just let me handle it," Annabeth replied. She knew that if she didn't stop Grover now, it would take him forever to prove his point. "If he's only here for me, no reason anyone else has to get involved."

She walked up the hill and found Ben standing just outside the invisible barrier, foot tapping impatiently. He turned a curious gaze to Annabeth as she approached. "You Annabeth Chase?" he asked.

"That's me," Annabeth replied, standing in front of him with her arms crossed, but keeping on the opposite side of the barrier. "What can I do for you?"

Ben scanned his eyes up and down her form for a hot second, which did happen to make Annabeth feel the least bit uncomfortable. _Wonder if he likes what he sees? _Annabeth sarcastically thought. It's not like she had helped herself appear particularly modest, but she still knew that Ben was a teenage boy like all the rest, despite his heroic status, and would naturally find Annabeth fairly attractive in her current state.

Finally, Ben held up a finger, sticking his other hand in the pocket of his jeans. "First off," he said, before pointing in the direction of Peleus, the dragon they used to guard the Golden Fleece on its post on the lowest branch of Thalia's Tree. "Is that a dragon?" Ben finished.

Annabeth jumped in surprise, turning a flabbergasted look to Ben! "Wait, what!?" she asked.

"Oh?" Ben asked, scratching his chin. "Did you not notice?"

"N-no, of course I did!" Annabeth replied. "But… how can you see it?" The Mist should've been doing its… well, its job, and made it so Ben saw a big dog or something of the like. He shouldn't have been able to see Peleus as his natural form!

"Well…" Ben said, spinning his finger around in a circle, "I mean, it's sitting right there. Thing isn't really trying to hide." He stepped towards Peleus and Annabeth was half-tempted to warn him not to mess with the creature, only to find that Peleus was not the least bit bothered and instead gave Ben a calm look, tilting his head to the side.

"I'll admit," Ben said, kneeling down to the creature, getting at eye level, "I was a little spooked when I first saw this guy. I mean, long story, but I kinda have a grudge against dragons, so I just about reached for my Omnitrix upon seeing him. But he didn't do anything to give me a reason to go hero and attack. He was even cool with me going ballistic on this forcefield you've got here."

Ben stood back up and stood directly in front of Annabeth again. "Which brings me to my next point," he said. "The reason I came here. Listen, my cousin Gwen told me a bit about you. Said you've got links with the… 'supernatural' things out there. And currently, I'm kinda grasping at straws. I'm a bit out of my element with some of the things that are going on, so I was hoping you might be able to give me a hand."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. She was still wondering just what exactly Ben meant that would lead him to find her, and how he even knew about her in the first place. Plus, it wasn't like this was her first time helping protect the world or anything, but if this had anything to do with aliens, she was out! Fighting off Titans and Giants may have been one thing, but the aliens were completely out of the question.

"Let's start from the top," she said, eyes shut as she tried to concentrate, "how did you find me? In case you couldn't tell by our… forcefield, I don't like people looking for me."

Ben smirked. "Well while it might not have been the most mature," he said, "I may have snuck through my cousin's computer and stuff to look up any contacts with this type of thing she has."

"Seriously?" Annabeth asked, raising a brow.

"Hey, I didn't look at anything naughty!" Ben said. "I was looking specifically for stuff that could help my investigation, and you were one of her top contacts!"

"Okay, barring that," Annabeth said, "why do you need my help? Why can't you just ask Gwendolyn for help?"

"That's the thing," Ben replied. "Normally I would've, but she was already on her way to search her own leads and I don't think anyone else I know would be able to help with this situation, especially in light of something pretty spooky that happened to get my personal attention, and gave me every reason to start my own search into this."

"Define 'spooky'," Annabeth said.

"Somebody left something written all over my wall and door in some green goo," Ben replied. "A name. Tell me, do you know somebody named Touka Kirishima?"

Annabeth's expression turned into another one of pure shock. She didn't even need to say anything. The face alone was enough for Ben to understand she did in fact know who he was talking about.

"You don't have to tag along," Ben said, "but whatever you can tell me about this person and why I've been… well, 'directed' towards them would be a big help. Like I said, I'm kind of going in half-cocked."

"No!" Annabeth said, waving her hands. "No, you cannot go see Touka! Trust me, you have every reason to not see her!"

"What's the big deal?" Ben asked. "In case she's dangerous, I don't know if you've heard of me or not, but I can take care of myself." He held up the Omnitrix for emphasis.

"No! Absolutely not!" Annabeth said. "That'll only make things worse! Please, don't go bothering Touka!"

Ben raised a brow at her. He looked ready to say something else, when a surprised look came across his face! Annabeth was baffled for a moment as she looked at Ben. "Ben, you okay?" she asked. He didn't reply.

There was something different about him, but Annabeth couldn't quite pinpoint it. But as Ben began looking at his own hands curiously, she finally saw that it was his eyes. They were glowing now, a deep emerald green.

"Ann!" Ben said, his voice sounding a bit different. "Listen, Tennyson has to talk to Touka!"

Annabeth was astonished before the pieces all fit together! There was only one person on the planet that would ever call her 'Ann'. "Is that you Danny?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's me!" Ben/Danny replied. "Listen, it's a long story, but Tennyson has to talk to Touka! He might be… ergh! … one of the only people that can… ugh! … stop what's - man this guy's mind is tough! Can't-!" Ben's body doubled over, before finally Danny Phantom came spilling out of his back, floating in the air!

Ben spun around, his eyes widening in surprise at the sight of Danny floating behind him! The ghost boy in question merely waved awkwardly, as Ben turned back to Annabeth, still pointing accusingly at Danny in shock and confusion! "What-? Who-? Why-?"

"Long story," Annabeth replied. "Ben Tennyson, Danny Phantom. Danny Phantom, Ben Tennyson. And I'm sure that Danny has a very good reason to be possessing your body, right Danny?"

"Wait!" Ben said, holding his hands in front of him. "He possessed me!?"

"Yeah..." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Been kinda trying to keep a low profile lately. Got some stuff going on in the Ghost Zone that spells some bad juju for me and my town. Stuff that kinda relates to what's been going on in your home, Ben. I overshadowed you just to point you in the right direction so you could help out."

"My reputation precedes me again," Ben said. "But why didn't you just ask me personally?"

Danny looked at Ben directly in the eye. "Honestly," he said, "I was shy. You're, like, the best superhero out there. I just didn't want to meet you directly like… well, like this."

Ben sighed. "Fine," he said. "Can I at least expect you to help a bit more directly from here on out?"

"Sure thing!" Danny nodded.

Ben turned back to Annabeth, who was still watching their exchange. "And can I expect you to help as well?" Ben asked.

Annabeth looked ready to argue, but merely took a deep breath. She massaged her brow, as she got the sneaking suspicion that today was going to be a long, long, long, long, LONG day. "And I swore I wasn't going to wear pants today," she said. "Give me a few minutes to get dressed and I'll join you on your mission."

Ben gave a thumbs up, as Danny touched down beside him. "I call shotgun!" the ghost said.

Before long, Annabeth was now properly dressed in an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt with a pair of jeans and converse shoes, sitting in the front seat of Ben's car. Danny, meanwhile, was sitting in the back, much to his annoyance. "You are no fun," he said.

"Sorry Danny," Annabeth replied, "but front seats are only for those that are completely alive."

"That does bring up the question," Ben said, "how does one have powers of... being dead?"

"Ghosts aren't strictly limited to the deceased," Annabeth replied. "But that's not important right now."

"True enough," Ben said. "So Danny, you say that you're dealing with similar stuff that I am in Bellwood in this 'Ghost Zone' place of yours?"

"Yeah," Danny replied. "Similar things revolving around the mana victims."

"So…" Ben began. "Ghosts have had their own mana stolen? Is that even a thing?"

"Considering most ghosts are mostly made up of mana," Annabeth replied, "yes. Yes it is. And I could only picture that they would be even more lost than the people that have been suffering in Bellwood."

"And what's the story about this 'Touka' person?" Ben asked. "You know, how can she help with all this?"

Annabeth and Danny shared a look. They were still skeptical about how willing Touka would be to helping them. And how much she may brutalize them for bothering her with such things she would deem as 'trivialities.'

"Let's wait until we get to Tokyo," Annabeth replied. "Then we'll let you see for yourself."

"That's a pretty big hop skip and a jump," Ben replied. "Even on the Rustbucket III. Sure you can't give me a taste in the meantime?"

Annabeth took a breath. "Touka is a ghoul," she said.

"A ghoul?" Ben asked. "Another ghost?"

"Ghouls are not ghosts," Annabeth said, shaking her head.

"I should know!" Danny said. "So I resent that remark!"

"Ghouls are," Annabeth said, continuing to ignore Danny, "a race of, what you may deem as, monsters. They try to hide away from humankind, and live as normally as they could, given they're one of the few creatures that can actually pass as a normal person within the eyes of mankind without requiring a magic disguise. But some ghouls, most I should think, tend to stick to their more… traditional behavior."

"Which is…?" Ben asked.

"... They eat people," Annabeth replied. "They're cannibals. And for better or worse, it isn't something they choose to do either. It's the only thing that they can eat, and have to eat in order to live."

* * *

Touka delivered a solid punch to the wall of her kitchenette, panting, sweat slothing off her brow! She gulped down the bite of her meal she'd ravenously chewed into, blood dripping off her chin, her own steely determination keeping her from continuing the frenzy she'd just gone through! It had been awhile since she'd last gotten a proper chunk of meat in her system and her body had demanded that she devour every last morsel the moment it had fallen into her hands! The animalistic side of her psyche had been screaming and clawing at the seams for the past two hours, until she got close enough to touch the food she'd saved! Then everything came apart.

Not a fork or a proper preparation for it, she just ripped the wrapping off and began eating it like a beast over her sink, blood gushing out as she consumed! She didn't even use her hands, just preferring to dive in with only her teeth as her meat sat on the counter!

Every ounce of willpower was used to regain her composure. For about a minute she did her best to fight off her ravenous side, before finally shocking herself out of it by dropping the meat in the sink and punching the wall! She shakily tried to slow her breathing and calm her heart rate. She was a monster, yes, but she was not an animal.

She breathed heavily, as she began to clean herself off. She moved the meat aside and ran the sink so she could splash water on her face and wash away the blood, her breathing beginning to steady as she continued to pull herself together. Then, to her horror, there was a knock on the door!

"Shit!" she cursed under her breath. "Uh, who is it?" she asked, continuing to scrub off the blood.

"It's Hinami!" the youthful voice called. "Can I come in?"

Touka breathed a sigh of relief that it was only her. "Come in," Touk said. "But shut the door behind you! I was… eating."

The small girl slipped inside and walked over to Touka, looking at her as the older girl washed the blood off her face. She stopped a few feet away, a surprised expression coming over her. "Are you okay Touka?" she asked.

"Fine," Touka replied. "Just got really hungry."

"You should take better care of yourself!" Hinami said firmly. "That's what Kaneki tells me! Always look after yourself first, so then you can try to take care of other people!"

Touka didn't speak, although a small smirk did come across her face as she thought of Kaneki of all people giving Hinami life advice. She also silently thought to herself, _what if that isn't your style?_

"I'll keep that in mind Hinami," she said, offering a warm smile. "Now what did you need?"

"Kaneki was just wondering if you were coming down for work?" Hinami asked.

"Well I was on my way just now," Touka replied. "I just had to finish my food." She finished assuring that there wasn't a speck of blood left on her, as she prepared to follow Hinami downstairs to the cafe.

"Uh… Touka?" Hinami asked.

"What?" Touka replied.

"Your eyes," Hinami said, gesturing to her own.

Touka checked in the mirror, and sure enough, the blood red eyes of a ghoul were still present. But with a bit of effort, she managed to return them to normal. "Keep it together Kirishima," she told herself.

She left the apartment with Hinami on her tail, and they made their way downstairs. Touka was hoping that would be the extent of her excitement for one day.

* * *

"So this person works in a cafe?" Ben asked, leaning his head back as he piloted the Rustbucket III towards Tokyo. The flight shouldn't take too long given how the ship flew, maybe a half hour at the most, but that was longer than Ben was willing to put up with. There was even the ride in his car upon landing and departing to add on top of that, so his impatience was stemming.

"That's right," Annabeth replied. She was sitting in the co-pilot seat, but didn't dare touch any of the controls seeing that she had no idea what any of them did. She did admire the craftsmanship though, which Ben noted he'd have to tell Kevin about. "Coffee is one of the only things that ghouls can enjoy like humans," Annabeth finished, "so they take pride in that."

"Hm," Ben thought. "Not really a coffee drinker myself. Always a bit more of a smoothie guy!"

"As I've heard," Annabeth replied, recalling some rather unimpressive promotion the superhero had done.

"Okay, seriously," Danny noted, having been floating around in the back, "we have got to have a serious talk once we have time! Because, for real, this alien tech puts pretty much all of my family's stuff to shame, and I want it!"

"Do it on your own time, Danny," Annabeth said. "Remember, we're on a mission."

"You're always no fun, Ann," Danny said. Annabeth proceeded to grit her teeth in frustration, Danny smirking happily at his friend's annoyance. The next moment, however, a jet of blue steam shot out of his mouth, accompanied by a cold chill!

It was his Ghost Sense, the power that warned Danny whenever a ghost was nearby. The fact that it was going off now could only mean one thing. "Oh no," he said, dreading what would undoubtedly happen next.

Suddenly, the ship gave a hard shudder, which was quickly followed up by another, and another! It was clear that this was not turbulence from the repeated shaking! Rather, it seemed as if it was something striking the ship!

"What is that?" Annabeth asked, once the turbulence seemed to die down..

"I don't know," Ben replied. "There's nothing on any of the systems."

"Uno momento," Danny said, flying up to through the ship! Danny landed on the roof, his powers making it impossible to feel the rushing air out of the ship's interior, and spied what was triggering the shaking and his Ghost Sense. A group of octopus like ghosts that Danny had dubbed "Ectopuses", the green creatures latching onto the ship with their tentacles. There were about eight in total, crawling around the ship and dripping ectoplasm from their mouths!

"Hey! Hands off the merch!" Danny said. "It's a rental!" He summoned some Ecto-Energy into his hands, and shot them right at the ghosts! He instantly blew two off the roof, naturally garnering the attention of the others! Those crawling instantly leapt towards him, causing him to fight them off with his bare hands, knocking them away with superpowered punches or kicks! They were all batted aside, but more came in their place! Firing off a beam of energy, he split several Ectopuses apart, whilst a few fell off the ship! Unfortunately, one fell into the exhaust of the ship's left wing, causing it to be shredded into slime that clogged up the engine!

"Oops," Danny said. The engine spluttered and coughed out smoke and flames, and he felt the ship dip towards the ground! "Mega oops!" Danny added, shooting back inside the ship.

"What the heck is happening!?" Ben demanded. "We just lost the left engine!"

"There were ghosts!" Danny replied. "One fell into the engine!"

"Danny are you serious!?" Annabeth demanded.

"It was an accident!" Danny replied.

"Nevermind it!" Ben said. "I'm trying to brace us!" As they fell, it was clear that they were now over their target city, but Ben fought with the controls to ensure that they did not hit the buildings in their descent! It was clear they were not going to stop, no matter how hard he fought! And that's when he got an idea.

"Annabeth! Take the wheel!" he said.

"What!?" Annabeth demanded.

"I'm gonna try stabilizing us from the outside!" Ben replied. "All you gotta do is just steer us level!" Without waiting for a response, Ben charged towards the back of the ship!

"I'm gonna help!" Danny added, running after him! Ben and Danny reached the back, where Ben opened up the hangar bay, and activated the Omnitrix.

"Let's hope that this works in the past like it did in the future," Ben said.

"Huh?" Danny wondered.

Ben transformed into Jetray and flew out of the hangar door, Danny right behind him. Both Jetray and Danny flew under the nose of the ship before proceeding to push against it, trying to force their trajectory back up! The ship flew straight, but still steadily descending! They flew right over the buildings, before they found an open park and steered towards it!

The landing gear came out, Annabeth probably following their train of thought, and they hit the ground hard! Jetray and Danny flew out right in the nick of time as the Rustbucket III slid across the ground, digging trenches with the landing gear! One of the landing gear actually snapped off and caused the ship to list to the right, the wing snapping apart in the process, before it finally came to a halt!

Jetray and Danny landed right behind the ship, Ben transforming back into human form as they began to run inside! The hangar was still open but the door itself was buried under dirt and rock, the awkward angle thanks to the missing landing gear made it only more difficult to get inside! "Annabeth! Annabeth!" both heroes yelled, running to the front, where Annabeth had faceplanted against an airbag in the pilot's seat.

"Annabeth, are you alright?" Ben asked, pulling her back up. There was a shallow cut in her forehead, but she gave a thumbs up in response to their question. "Good to see you're okay," Danny added.

"Yeah," Annabeth said, standing up and rubbing her head. "Just peachy." The three left the Rustbucket III once again, where Ben surveyed the damage with a pained look on his face. "Oh man," he said. "Kevin is going to kill me."

"We can worry about that later," Annabeth replied. "We still have work to do."

"Right, right," Ben added, waving off the comment. He headed back in the ship, going for his car, which had thankfully been strapped down so as to keep it from getting wrecked. Annabeth, meanwhile, began mulling over what they had just experienced. "What was that?" she asked. "Why did those ghosts just attack us like that?"

"Uh… cause' they're ghosts?" Danny replied. "It's what they do?"

"That's not what I-" Annabeth began, only for Danny's Ghost Sense to go off once again! "Oh no!" he said once more.

The both of them looked in the air and saw a large swarm of Ectopuses flying right towards them! "Ann," Danny said, "if you want answers you might get your chance to ask, because we got even more incoming!"

Ben finally drove out of the Rustbucket III in his car, Annabeth throwing herself into the passenger seat! "Drive! Drive! Drive!" she yelled. Ben saw the ghosts flying towards them in his rear view mirror and let loose a surprised, "holy snot!"

He gunned the engine and the car shot forward, Annabeth and Danny slamming back against their seats from the sudden burst of speed! The Ectopuses flew in closer, one flying next to Annabeth's door. To Ben's surprise, she actually opened the window, and proceed to slam a dagger into its head, causing the ghost to vanish on the spot!

"Woah," Ben said. "Did you just kill a ghost?"

"Celestial bronze," Annabeth replied. "Hurts magical or supernatural creatures."

"Nice," Ben grinned.

The car continued soaring down the streets, Danny poking out of the roof to shoot down some of the Ectopuses! Soon enough, Annabeth caught sight of Anteiku, the cafe where Touka worked, dead ahead! "There!" she yelled, pointing towards it.

"Alright," Ben said. "We're in Tokyo, so let's try out my drifting!" Ben pulled on the controls, drifting to the left side towards the cafe! Unfortunately, the car screeched to a halt, having been turned too abruptly, as the front left side jumped over the sidewalk and bumped against a nearby building! They were still at least three buildings away from the cafe!

Annabeth exited the car, Ben forced to follow out of her side in order to get out! The cafe's front door opened and a dark haired girl Ben presumed to be Touka came out and gestured for them to get inside! "Into the cafe! Hurry!" she yelled.

Annabeth did not hesitate and bolted right into the front door, but Ben came to a stop in front of the building, facing the ghosts as they flew closer! He knew he couldn't just let these things follow them inside! He had to stop them there and then! There were about ten when he had first seen them, but due to Danny fighting them off and Annabeth stabbing down one, there were about six left. The only downside was Ben didn't know what alien to use since he'd never fought a real ghost before.

"Dude, we don't have time!" Danny said, prepared to force him inside! But before either one of them could do anything, they soon gained looks of shock and horror, as the Ectopuses broke down into green energy and began to meld together. Where once were six octopus like ghosts, was a massive storm of energy with two ginormous red eyes bearing down at them, roaring like a demon!

"Holy shit!" Ben and Danny cursed. Touka grabbed Ben by his collar and positively threw him into the cafe! Danny flew in next and Touka leapt in last, the door slamming shut behind her! The windows of the cafe were overtaken by green, but nothing got inside. Although, the growling, snarling noise of the fused ghosts could still be heard.

Touka pushed herself up from the ground after her daring dive and found herself on top of Danny, who was looking at her in shock. "Touka," the ghost greeted. "Fenton," the ghoul replied.

She pushed herself back up, looking none the worse for wear despite that jump. "Okay," Ben said, still laying on the ground flat on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling, "can anybody tell me what the hell that was about? And… you know… why we aren't still being attacked?"

"The cafe is protected," Touka replied. "No ghosts can get in here. Except of course, they're given permission," she added, looking at Danny.

Touka walked past Annabeth, and the two merely gazed into each other's eyes with a fierce intensity. Annabeth's storm gray eyes against Touka's deep blue orbs. "Annabeth," Touka said. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

"The feeling is mutual," Annabeth said, crossing her arms.

Danny and Ben shared similarly concerned looks, as they watched the exchange go down. Touka finally spun on her heels and approached Ben. "Forgive me," she said. "I failed to properly introduce myself due to my distraction. I'm Touka Kirishima. It's… an honor to meet you, Ben Tennyson."

"Uh… likewise?" Ben said. "I mean, you'd be the first ghoul I've ever met." They both shook hands.

"Which brings up my question," Touka said, eyeing up the group. "A superhero, a ghost, and a Half-Blood. Quite the trio. So what brings you here?"

"My cousin thinks a bunch of people losing mana in my hometown," Ben replied, "has a magical cause. And given that she's currently MIA, I felt that you might be my next best lead… and only one, seeing this guy here pointed me in your direction," he added, gesturing to Danny.

Danny laughed nervously as Touka narrowed her eyes at him. "You lead him here, Fenton?" she asked.

"Hey!" Danny said, holding his arms up in a placating gesture. "I had the best of intentions!"

Touka narrowed her eyes, but did not object to the idea. Instead, she began walking behind the counter, the others following. "That attack we just encountered," Annabeth said, "was far too organized for it to be a random ghost attack. The sheer amount of them is also a dead give away. There isn't a suitable gateway anywhere near this area to account for such a strike."

"Well now we know something stinks," Danny said. "We know somebody, probably from the Ghost Zone, doesn't want us asking questions!"

"Congratulations," Touka said, "you cracked it wide open."

"Touka!" a smaller, more youthful voice yelled. "Who is that? Do we have visitors?"

Just then, everyone turned in surprise, and Touka with a hint of fear, as a small girl entered the room. She was about a foot shorter than Danny, making her the shortest in the room, and had a head of fairly short, light brown hair, and coco brown eyes. She jumped at the sight of everyone, but when her eyes fell upon Annabeth, she lit up!

"Oh Annabeth!" she said happily, running over, giving Annabeth a hug. "It's so good to see you again! Oh it's been so long!"

"Hello there Hinami," Annabeth said. "Yes, it has been too long," she added, giving Touka a firm look. Touka, in response, turned away.

Hinami looked at Ben and Danny in intrigue. "You're... you're Ben 10!" she said happily, pointing to Ben.

"Am I?" Ben asked. "I hadn't noticed."

Hinami giggled at Ben's statement, before her eyes settled once again on Danny. "And you," she said, "you've met Touka a few times before, right? Danny Fenton." She said this as she inched her face closer to Danny, eyeing him up curiously. Both of them were about the same height. "You smell... similar to somebody else."

"Uh... hehehe," Danny laughed uncomfortably.

"Hinami," Touka said, "that's enough."

Hinami backed away, tapping her fingertips together. "Sorry Touka," she said. "I was just curious."

"I know," Touka said, rubbing Hinami's head. "But you can't just go getting so close like that." Touka lifted her gaze back to the others, and gestured for them to follow. "Now then," she said. "if that'll be all, why don't we establish what brought you all here?"

For the next several minutes, all parties explained their respective situations to Touka while sharing some coffee she had pre-prepared. Touka pulled up some of the articles on Annabeth's laptop, which she claimed she got from some dude named Daedalus, which Ben didn't even try to understand. The whole time, Touka had a firm look as she listened, which seemed to be her natural mien, but with just a hint of more intrigue behind it.

"Something tells me this is some serious Ghost Zone juju," Danny said. "If something out there was able to send those ghosts after us, it's gotta be something from my neck of the woods."

"I wouldn't be too certain," Touka replied. "There are numerous spellcasters or godlike beings that can harness the power of ghosts or legitimate spirits into their incantations. Just because it has something to do with the Ghost Zone doesn't automatically mean that whoever is responsible are related directly to them. Plus, no ghost has been able to suppress or infect a person's mana before. That aside, what does this have to do with me? This clearly doesn't have anything to do with ghouls either, or at least any natural ghoul."

"Clearly," Annabeth said, "whether this be ghost or ghoul or whatever, this has to do with the Dark Realm, and you're the only one that can help us navigate there. If this is as serious as it appears to be, we will need your help to continue the investigation."

"You say that again," Ben said. "What is the Dark Realm?"

"You brought him here," Touka said to Annabeth and Danny, "and yet you didn't bother telling him anything about the Dark Realm?"

"But you explain it so well," Annabeth said snarkily.

Touka rolled her eyes, before explaining to Ben. "The Dark Realm is the underground world where creatures you would call 'monsters' live. Werewolves, centaurs, slugmen, trolls, faeries, succubus, witches, and ghouls like me. They all live out of sight of you humans so as not to instigate a war on either side. Naturally, we also refer to the realm of humans as 'The Light Realm' because you all dance in the daylight without a care in the world."

"...You know," Ben said, "if I didn't live the life I lived, I might just call you crazy. But now, I'll just roll with it."

"Smart move," Touka said, standing up and heading for the door. "Normally I wouldn't bother getting involved with a situation like this, but for now, I'll look into it. Direct it towards experts. As for you all, you can leave the way you came in."

Danny was not prepared to let her leave, flying over her head and landing in front of her! "Woah, woah, woah, woah!" he said. "We should be working together on this, we're all involved in some way already!"

"He's right!" Hinami seconded, jumping over to Danny's side. "Come on, it's a dream team! You, Danny, Annabeth, Ben 10! It's perfect!"

"Not my speed," Touka said. "In case both of you haven't gotten it yet, I'm no hero. I don't waste my life fighting Titans or aliens. I'm only getting involved so I can direct this to people that can properly handle it, cause' I'm smart enough to tell this might harm us eventually. Besides, against dark magic like this, all of you would draw too much attention. You're a half-ghost/half-human Fenton, giving off an energy that even lesser monsters could sense, and Tennyson is... well, Ben Tennyson. He practically broadcasts his presence to everyone." "I neither confirm nor deny that," Ben replied.

"That's why we need you!" Danny said. "It's like Annabeth said, you can lead us to the right path!"

"Fenton," Touka said dangerously, inching her face closer to his, "do I strike you as a team player? Much less a team leader?" She looked back to Annnabeth, who hadn't moved from her spot leaning against the wall since the conversation started. "Chase," she said, "I could actually use your help. You're smart, and strong. You're an ideal partner in this case."

"Alright," Annabeth shrugged. "But if I go, the boys go."

Touka's face seemed to implode, causing Hinami to inch away. Finally, Touka released a frustrated growl, gripping her hair! "Grah!" she said. "This-this is the hippogriff trade, in Rwanda, all over again! 'Ooh~ We have to save the hippogriffs,' said the smartass!"

"You are such a bitch!" Annabeth said, stomping over in front of Touka.

"Oh no," Danny said, rubbing his head, "not the hippogriffs." He and Hinami stood beside Ben, who was looking on with an expression of both confusion and mild entertainment.

"Says the ghoul," Annabeth cursed, "working out of a cafe, who's too scared to go out anywhere, written on her resume!"

"But not hippogriffs!" Touka replied.

"They used to team up," Danny whispered to Ben.

"Huh," Ben replied. He stepped forward, holding up a placating gesture. "Ladies, ladies, you're both beautiful, now we're wasting time. He's half dead," he said, gesturing to Danny, "and I know the risks. Again, Hero of the Universe? Now are we going, or do I gotta put babies in the corner?"

Annabeth and Touka alike both looked just about ready to throttle Ben due to his commentary, but Annabeth managed to turn her gaze towards Touka, silently asking what she felt, and the ghoul finally seemed to relent. "Fine," she said, throwing up her hands. "If you're all that determined, best to just get it over with now. But if we get hounded by any wendigos or skinwalkers because you all smell too much, just know, I will leave you all behind."

"And another thing Tennyson," she said, eyes glowing red for a millisecond, "ever talk to me like that again, and I will not hesitate to eat you. Got me?" "Noted," Ben replied, shrugging the comment off.

"Fine then," Touka replied, heading towards the door. The rest of the group all followed behind her, definitely a team that would stick out to anyone passing by. An alien superhero, a half-ghost/half-human, a demigod, and a ghoul. All of them heading towards the world where monsters could roam free without fear and live their lives however they chose, no matter how disgusting it might be. "Let's take a walk on the dark side."

* * *

_**A/N: Thank you so much for reading this first chapter! This idea just... blossomed one day. I've always been a fan of shows or franchises in general related to the dark supernatural things out there, so with the way my brain works something like this just came about.**_

_**After reading other crossover fics, I was able to come up with this suggestion after looking at a piece of artwork by CosmicThunder on Deviantart that shares the same name as the title I used, which I believe he got from Hellboy - who was featured in the image. In that artwork, it was mostly characters from tv or movies. Here, I naturally went more with the YA crowd with cartoons/anime and even a book character in the form of Annabeth.**_

_**Most should hopefully be able to understand my choices, but in regards to Annabeth and Touka, I chose them because I found them more interesting characters than their male counterparts (at least in regards to Tokyo Ghoul). While I like Percy, I've always liked Annabeth more, which is why I was particularly pleased that they made her one of the main characters in Heroes of Olympus. Plus, by having these two, we do get a more grounded setting in the "Dark Realm."**_

_**I can't really say much now, so once more, I hope you enjoyed. And stay tuned for more soon! Also be sure to let me know any other supernatural franchises you'd like to see with cameos or main characters, as I'm itching to get at least one or two more in there!**_

_**Until then, have a fantastic evening, and take care!**_


	2. Pathos: Part 2

**The Ones Who Bump Back:**

Pathos.

Pt. 2.

* * *

**Chapter Two: Know Your Place.**

Ben Tennyson was not one who usually followed others. In his life he was typically the leader of whatever posse he found himself with, thanks to his power with the Omnitrix and his overall capability as a leader, a trait his grandfather told him he naturally possessed. But given his situation and how far out of his element he truly was, he obediently followed the path of Touka Kirishima as she lead the way to their destination. She hadn't exactly told them where they were going after leaving Anteiku, or even what their current objective was in their mission. All Ben saw was she was leading them towards a subway tunnel.

"Stop being a child, Touka," Annabeth berated her, clearly not having the same patience as Ben (which one would have figured would be the other way around) "and tell us where you intend to take us."

"We need a certain item," Touka replied, "and the only way to get it, is to find a vampire."

"A vampire?" Ben asked.

"Yes," Touka replied. "Most vampires are a good source of magical information. They're easily the most powerful race in the Dark Realm and can get us what we're looking for. We need a particular relic if we're going to understand how these victims have had their mana affected."

"But my cousin already scanned their mana," Ben replied, "and she couldn't find anything aside from... you know, how they're not normal."

"I understand," Touka replied. "Your cousin is one of the most powerful spellcasters on the planet. However, she knows jack squat about looking in the right places for stuff from the Dark Realm. She's never danced with the devil, if that's how the saying goes."

Despite his confidence in Gwen, Ben figured it was probably not the best to argue with somebody who actually lived in this Dark Realm, and instead merely take her word for it moving forward. "So you happen to know a vampire to ask?" he asked.

"I do," Touka replied. "Whether or not she's willing to work with us is another matter."

"Touka," Annabeth said, "are you talking about Moka?"

"Moka and Touka?" Ben asked, a smirk on his face. Even Danny, walking next to him, snickered.

"Yes, our names rhyme," Touka said, "good for you, you noticed. Not like you're one to talk."

"I know," Ben laughed. "Just funny being on the opposite end of that for once."

"Touka," Annabeth said, ignoring their immaturity, "have you and Moka actually talked recently? Like, at all since you split up?"

"Not really," Touka said.

"And you're going to ask her for help anyway?" Annabeth replied.

"What choice do I have?" Touka replied in annoyance. "You were all so adamant that I take part in this little crusade of yours, and this is the only way to move forward. She has what we need, and we have to get it. Besides, giving how much of a bleeding heart she is, she'll more than likely listen either way."

Annabeth sighed heavily. Ben and Danny looked to one another. "Do you know what this is about?" Ben asked. "Not really," Danny replied. "Never met a vampire before."

Danny himself had transformed back into his human form upon the group leaving Anteiku. His hair was now black, but still kept in its frontward spike. His outfit was now consisting of a white hoodie over a pair of plain blue jeans, with the legs tucked into a pair of red and white strapped boots.

"So be sure," Touka said, "to watch where you step boys. I wasn't joking before when I mentioned that vampires are the most powerful creatures of the Dark Realm. The amount of raw energy they possess is something to not only be feared, but respected."

She aimed her gaze back at the silent gents. "So remember once we meet her," she said, "know your place."

With those grim words hanging in the air for a moment, a subway car suddenly pulled up that Ben hadn't seemed to recognize. It looked old and decrepit, painted a pure jet black seemingly for emphasis. Touka gestured for them to get on, depositing four gold coins in the turnstile, before stepping through herself, Annabeth following right after. Ben and Danny just seemed to look confused.

"Uh…" Ben said. "That thing doesn't look regulation."

"That's because," Touka replied, "it's from the Dark Realm, Mr. Hero. This thing can take you to and from any major city you choose so long as you pay. It also helps if you get on before the train departs, because naturally, these things don't typically wait very long."

"You heard her!" Danny said, shoving Ben up ahead, having taken the hint! The two stepped onto the train, which pretty much left the moment they got on! The force of speed nearly threw both Ben and Danny from their feet, Annabeth helping keep them both upright by acting as a buffer, hanging on by the strap on the upper rail!

Ben looked out the window, only to find a dull, blood red glow outside! "Okay," he said. "So, basic teleportation. Got it."

"Magic," Touka replied.

"Whatever," Ben replied. "I'm coping right now. Still not used to the whole, you know, hidden world of monsters and stuff."

"You'll get used to it," Danny replied. He took a seat next to Touka, who looked somewhat uncomfortable about the prospects of sitting close to him.

Ben and Annabeth sat next to each other in the seat across from them, Ben's eyes appearing to be drifting around. Normally he would have just been looking at the world passing by outside, but because the only thing out there was pure red, he found he could not. His finger tapped impatiently on his knee, his attention span running amok as he desperately tried to find something to preoccupy himself.

Annabeth seemed to notice his uncomfortability. She could empathize a bit, but she still didn't deny how it was to see him of all people almost more panicked than Percy had been when he first found himself in the world of gods or monsters. She gave him a bit of a nudge to get his attention, tapping her shoulder against his, causing his forest green eyes to connect with her gray ones, latching him into place with a stare.

"Just relax," she said. "We'll be there before you know it."

"Relax?" Ben asked. "What makes you think I'm not relaxed?"

"You're jittering," Touka replied. "Even we can see."

Ben seemed offended. "It's nothing," he said, with a shake of his head. "I just didn't sleep well last night. In part, because a certain ghost woke me up in the wee hours of the morning."

Danny looked away. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said.

Ben smirked. "Just give me some time," he said. "I may be a bit out of it with all this monster stuff that I haven't gotten used to. As soon as I get the chance to kick some butt, you'll all see just what I can do when I'm in my element."

"Well it'll take awhile," Touka replied. "Because we're not going to be in your element once we get off this train. We'll be in _hers_."

* * *

Jake Long was starting to have a headache. This was not proving worthwhile whatsoever. He had chosen this particular mission because it had been brought to him by a powerful member of the Dark Realm, for a particular reason. And according to his grandfather's guidance, he did not simply turn down a request from a vampire.

But the particular mission they were on at the moment was not exactly proving successful. Reason why? Demons.

The mission that Jake and the vampire he was working with involved meeting with a trio of demons; Mammon, Asmodeus, and Pythius. The demons had asked for them to meet in a casino in Las Vegas and play a game of cards, then they _might_ make an arrangement thereafter. Naturally, Jake and his partner had to accept. The only problem with that is that demons cheated.

For nearly half a dozen rounds Jake had been losing over and over against the demons. He didn't know how, but the demons had to have been cheating. Probably magic if Jake had to guess. The only thing that could be done moving forward was to play along as long as they could and think of a way to outsmart the monsters.

"In what plane of existence does four of a kind lose?" Jake said, rubbing his brow, after losing a sixth time. The lead demon, Pythius, dragged the stacks of bills and chips over towards him, indicating his victory.

The demons both did and did not look like stereotypical demons. They had the long horns on their foreheads, but their skin was a grayish olive color, not bright red. They wore no clothing, but they did have loin-cloths to at least cover some modesty, and their eyes glowed a deep red.

"Too-too bad, Akashiya!" Asmodeus, a smaller, more lanky demon laughed at Jake's vampire partner, whom the demons naturally assumed was the one calling the shots in this deal. "Your pet dragon isn't good enough!"

"Have you gained weight?" Mammon, a larger, deeper voiced demon asked. "It looks good on you!" he added, licking his lips wantingly.

Jake's vampiric companion, Moka Akashiya, yelped quietly at the demon, slipping further into her seat. Jake shot a look at her, aware that normally Moka appeared as a kind, innocent, and somewhat naive girl with long pink hair. Her Yokai Academy uniform had been set aside in favor of some casual attire that consisted of a pair of black waist shorts, long brown boots, a white button-up shirt, under a long pink trench-coat. But to those aware and kept in the loop, she wore a collar that held a rosary around her neck.

"Why not let your other half play a few hands, Moka?" he asked. "Might change my luck." Jake was referring to the fact that Moka had her personality split into two-halves, her more warm and welcoming side sharing a body with a cold, seductive, and violent side.

"Uh… I don't think that'd be a good idea," Moka said. "I'm only here to find a relic and go home."

"But you're here now," Jake said. "So why not help the Am-Drag actually win some rounds?"

"This was your idea," Moka replied. "I didn't want any part of this."

"You know," Jake said, "despite being in your nice side right now, that was really hurtful. Plus, yo brought the job to me, I was just following the path of least resistance!"

"But," Moka said sadly, "I never agreed to gamble!"

"Kids, kids, you're boring me!" Pythius said. "And I shouldn't be saying that when looking at a vampire and a dragon in the same room together! So let's play another hand!"

With telekinesis, he shuffled the deck and dealt out cards to everyone save for Moka, who was still not playing. Pythius saw that his hand was not the greatest, with 2 of diamonds, 4 of clubs, 7 of diamonds, 9 of hearts, and an ace of spades. He looked up and saw as Jake bet everything he had into the pile. Pythius looked back to his hand, and in a flash, changed it to a 10, jack, queen, and king of spades to go with his ace.

"Looks like my luck's still running high!" he laughed. "This game's as good as mine, dragon! And looking at the clock, I think our next group is due to arrive, so it looks like time to bust you out!" He put everything he had, which was everything that'd been won thus far, into the center pile!

"No cards for me," he said. "And it looks like you can't call my bet, salamander. By my rules, you lose!" he said, reaching for the stack in the center of the table. Moka, however, put her hand over the demon's, keeping him from taking the stack. "I raise," she said, a little more serious than her once meek manner from before.

"With what?" the demon asked. "Your soul? That fractured and broken soul of yours isn't worth two bits."

"Not two bits!" Asmodeus laughed.

"Not my soul," she said. "My blood. The blood of a Shinso Vampire should be worth something, shouldn't it?" she asked, batting her eyelashes for good measure. "And since a Shinso Vampire is more than powerful enough in its pure essence to take down any powerful demon lord..."

"Now with that in mind," Jake added smugly, " it looks like you're the one who's out, eh, Pythius?"

The three demons huddled together to discuss the bargain. "What do you say boys?" Pythius asked.

"I like the action," Mammon said. The three of them put their arms together, and began chanting demonic tongues. Finally, a scythe that appeared made out of bone appeared in front of them in a wave of fire!

"I call," Pythius said, holding out the scythe.

"Yo, what?" Jake asked. "A broken down scythe for the blood of a Shinso Vampire? Are you outta your flipping mind?"

"Aye," Pythius said. "This is a reaper's scythe! A weapon capable of stealing any creature's soul with one fell swipe! I'd say that's more than fair!"

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" he said. "I'd be a poor sport if we turned down that 'fair' wager." He laid down his hand, showing a 3 of diamonds, 7 of diamonds, 5 of clubs, 2 of hearts, and a 2 of clubs.

The demons laughed at how bad it was! "Boy was that pitiful!" Pythius said. "Now get a load of - what!?" He laid down his own hand, only to find it restored to normal.

Pythius aimed his eyes upward, and caught sight of Moka waving around a pentagram over her finger as she sat back casually in her chair, she and Jake sharing a laugh. "Hope they got an eye doctor in H-E-double hockey sticks," Jake laughed, taking the scythe off the table. "Cause' that hand just lost."

"You cheated!" Pythius roared, slamming a fist down that was strong enough to crack the table apart, scattering chips and bills everywhere, as Jake and Moka were knocked onto their rears, the scythe slipping from Jake's hands! "Technically both sides cheated!" Jake said. "We just cheated better!"

Pythius roared again, throwing a punch which Jake ducked! He kicked at Pythius's side, and punched him in the chin, but the demon picked him up by his collar and slashed at his chest, before tossing him into a wall!

Jake fell down, groaning comically, and looking at his shredded jacket! "Aw man!" he said. "This thing is my identity! You can't just take that from - yikes!" He hastily rolled away as Mammon tried to crush him like a maddened gorilla! Jake roundhouse kicked the demon in the face, whom merely roared in anger, the kick having no effect!

Jake backflipped away, kicking Mammon again in the process, doing a few more flips before hiding behind the bar counter! "Okay," Jake said, "time to heat things up!" Asmodeus ran at him from his left, before Jake vaulted over the bar counter!

"Dragon Up!"

In a burst of fire, Jake transformed into his pure dragon form, slashing at Mammon's eyes! The demon roared, as Jake further punched him in the gut, and tossed him at Asmodeus! Both demons crumpled to the ground, as Pythius ran at him next and breathed fire at him! Jake retaliated with his own jet of flames, which met each other in the air, but neither got the better of the other!

Jake poured on more and more heat from inside of him, eventually overtaking Pythius's fire and causing the demon to fly right into the glass window, cracking it and slowly crumpling! "Aw yeah!" Jake laughed happily. "You try to outfire the Am-Drag, and you get burnt, bud! That's right! That's right-aw!"

Mammon tackled into him, and Asmodeus added by slamming him in the head, Jake grabbed Mammon with his tail, around his neck, and tossed him into Asmodeus, getting the both of them off of him! Asmodeus got up first, and stabbed Jake's gut multiple times with claws! Jake's tough dragon hide withstood the hits, but it still hurt! Jake shot a stream of fire into Asmodeus's eyes, before slamming him in the head with a punch, and roundhouse kicking him away!

Mammon and Pythius tackled him simultaneously, crushing him into a wall, before Jake punched them both in the face, and swiped them away with his tail! "Uh… Moka?" Jake asked. "I don't suppose I can get some vampire help here?"

"Sorry Jake," Moka replied, hiding behind a pillar, "but that's probably not the best idea right now. I don't want another murderous monster on the loose."

Jake sighed in exasperation, as Mammon and Asmodeus charged at him! Jake flew over them, and breathed fire from above! The two demons were engulfed, dropping from the wall of flames! Pythius jumped over and grappled with Jake in midair, before Jake tossed him into a pillar!

Jake landed in front of Mammon and Asmodeus, delivering another roundhouse kick with slashed their heads off their necks with his claws! "Aw… gross," Jake said.

Pythius pushed himself back up, seeing his partners beaten. He looked over and saw Moka still cowering behind a pillar, next to where the reaper's scythe still sat. He grinned wickedly as he ran over to it, but Moka stood in his way!

"Oh please!" he laughed. "What do you think you're going to do to me, Akashiya!? You're hopeless! You're useless with that rosario around your neck!" He reared back a fist, and delivered a punch right for her head!

A mighty 'slam!' echoed in the room. Pythius looked on in surprise and silence, as Moka had grabbed the punch, not reacting whatsoever as the hit connected with her hand. She pushed the fist back, causing Pythius to groan and swear in pain, until finally she cracked his wrist. "Actually," she said. "That doesn't apply anymore. I've made peace with my inner self."

She grinned wickedly, as her true vampire essence flared in her body! A geyser of black and red energy surged throughout her form, her hair turning silver with but slivers of pink highlighting her tips, and her eyes glowed before settling upon a deep red in place of her gray! And her form overall became more voluptuous and beauteous to the eyes.

"Playing the cutesy side does wonders for letting your guard down, doesn't it?" she asked, her voice deeper and more adult, fitting with her more adult appearance.

"B-but… h-how…?" Pythius asked, unable to put up any sort of a fight as Moka gazed into his eyes in a way that drained every ounce of fight he had inside of him. "Your... rosary!"

"Oh this?" Moka asked, pulling on the rosary on her collar. She plucked it off with a 'click' and crunched it in her hand! "It's a fake."

"It's a long story, big boy. A story you won't be able to hear. And by the way, my name isn't 'Akashiya.' It's 'Shuzen.' As in the Shuzen bloodline."

She hissed like a wild animal as she dug her fangs deep into his neck, ripping out a chunk of his neck large enough to cause his head to topple off of his body! She dropped the body, and with a snap of her fingers, a vacuous, black hole ringed by fire appeared in the floor and sucked Pythius right into it! At the same time, Mammon and Asmodeus were dragged into it too!

"You're ass is grass Shuzen!" Mammon's head yelled. "And we're the lawnmowers!" Asmodeus yelled. Finally, the demons were dragged into the portal, which snapped shut in a burst of flames behind them.

Moka wiped her lips and walked over to the reaper scythe, picking it up and looking it over. As she did, Jake transformed back into his human form and walked over to her, holding his side. "And you only chose _now_ to transform?" Jake asked.

Moka looked at him, before hiding the scythe behind her back with her hands clasped together in a bashful stance. "You were doing so well," she replied, giving an innocent grin. "I didn't want to upstage the 'Am-Drag' in the middle of a fight. Besides, it all ended out well for us, didn't it? We beat the demons, sent them back to Hell so they may continue their eternal torment and got the reaper's scythe. What's the problem?"

"I know, I know," Jake said. "You don't have to rub it in."

Jake hated to admit it, but stuff like this was regular for Moka. He had known Moka for a time, as she had made a number of meetings with Jake and his family growing up, seeking his aid as a dragon. Dragons were the "guardians" of the Dark Realm. They met the ranks of "S-Class" monsters, but were nearly extinct by this point due to being hunted and slain by groups like the Forever Knights and the Huntsclan. All because of some outer godlike entity that had nothing to do with natural dragons.

Regardless, the "alpha" dragons were still sought out for help on occasions by other monsters thanks to their ancient history and rich power. Vampires scarcely ever did so, since they basically succeeded where dragons fell since they had thrived as the dragons were going extinct. But as was clearly evidenced, Moka was different.

Overall, Jake and Moka had gotten a bit of a partnership going for them. A partnership that typically amounted to Moka using Jake as muscle for the majority of their cases, because of her previous inability to access her true vampire powers while wearing her rosary that had been given to her when she was an infant. But now that she could access her true form whenever she wanted, being in that form most of the time, she still let Jake do her work for her until she finally just got bored of sitting on the sidelines.

That was the main thing that Jake had learnt about Moka's true self growing up. She enjoyed playing around with him, taking shots or making fun at his expense, and overall just making Jake feel uncomfortable. She did like him, and he in turn did like her, but she merely enjoyed playing around with him more than he would prefer.

It was honestly a conundrum. Jake was used to seeing Moka as kind and warm most of the time, which she still was. Only now she also had this tomboyish edge that made Jake feel like he was now looking at a similar, but different person.

"Oh come now Jake," Moka said, skipping over to him and throwing her arms around his neck playfully, gazing into his eyes in a very flirtatious manner, giving into her true vampire side. "Since you did such a good job today, I'll treat you to your favorite meal back at my home. You can even lounge around in the living space and watch all those cartoons of yours."

"Yo, dawg!" Jake said, backing away, looking heavily insulted. "How many times do I gotta tell you! They are not cartoons! They are anime! Totally different!"

"Don't pretend like you don't like my suggestion," Moka said, analyzing her nails.

"Oh I do!" Jake said. "But please, be politically correct."

Moka released that laugh of hers that would positively cause any man (and some women) melt in delight. "As you wish," she said proceeding to walk over to his side and putting a hand to his shoulder. "But one more thing," she added. Jake was flummoxed for a moment, before Moka promptly bit down on his neck and drained a bit of his blood, groaning and shuddering in discomfort!

She released him after a moment, with a loud "pop!" being heard, and licked her lips in delight! Jake nearly fell from his feet, his eyes in spirals at the sensation of his blood being drained! "Ah, the blood of a dragon," Moka said lovingly, the pitch of her voice rising in delight. "As hot as the best curries!"

As Jake still tried to regain his bearings, Moka grabbed his wrist and tugged him along behind her. "Okay, okay," she said, "in all seriousness, now let's repay you for your work."

"Why do you gotta screw with me so much?" Jake asked. "Why don't you take my work seriously?"

"Hm?" Moka asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Okay, how about this? You're such a good kid! You did so well today!"

"That hurts even more!" Jake said, crumpling in defeat. "We're both the same age!"

Moka merely continued to snicker proudly to herself, as she lead Jake back to her home. With a wave of her hand and a speck of her blood, the doorway to the casino turned into a spiral gateway that lead her straight back to her home, Jake stumbling in after. Standing on the other side, Moka sighed in delight at the sight of her beloved home, an appropriately large castle, not outright gothic, but an impressive sight to say the least. A large, proud structure that sat in the middle of a realm settled in perpetual twilight, that was inaccessible to any who did not have special permission.

Moka lead Jake inside, through the massive doors that separated the inside from the out, which automatically swung open with a low creaking sound, leading them straight to a deep entryway that stretched deeper into the heart of the castle, where the amphitheater sat like a standard throne room. The first thing that Moka had to ensure was that the scythe was put aside safely.

But upon entering, both Moka and Jake saw a sight that left them speechless. Inside, in the entrance hall, was the team consisting of Touka, Ben, Annabeth and Danny. "Sup?" Ben greeted, waving casually at them.

Jake was left baffled, looking at the group curiously. Some he recognized, Ben being the obvious one. But others like Annabeth, he did not. Moka was shocked herself, which showed on her face, before it hardened and she looked at them with harsh criticism.

"H-hey, Moka," Annabeth waved.

"Annabeth," Moka said. Her eyes were focused intensely on Touka, who was standing there calmly during the whole exchange.

"Hey Moka," Touka said as well.

"Hello Touka," Moka replied. Her face softened and she looked at Touka with a calm expression. "I take it you haven't met my friend here," she added, gesturing to Jake. "This is the dragon boy that I've brought up in the past: Jake Long."

"Y-yo, waddup?" Jake greeted, sensing the unease in the room.

"Hi Jake," Danny waved.

"You two know each other?" Ben asked.

"Yeah," Jake replied. "Had a mad run-in with a ghost dragon a while ago."

"Seems most people know each other in one way," Ben said to himself. "Even still, nice to meet you."

"And you're Ben Tennyson~" Moka said, intrigue deep in her tone, stepping before him, setting the reaper's scythe on a nearby dresser. "My, this is a surprise. I take it my associates let you in."

"Yeah," Ben replied casually. "Gotta say, this is basically everything I imagined a vampire's home would look like. In a good way."

"And my father was alright with having mortals saunter in?" Moka asked.

"Actually," Touka replied, "daddy Shuzen wasn't even here."

"Hm," Moka hummed thoughtfully. "Curious." She stepped over to Touka, and looked her right in the eye. "I know that you wouldn't have come here without a reason, Touka. Whatever you have going on with your friends here, (well, friends probably isn't the right word given who you are) is between you. But let me say, what happened between us is over and done with now. I accept your apology."

Everyone in Touka's group suddenly looked very uncomfortable. Touka herself did not visibly react aside from her gaze aiming downward. Moka noted this, as an eyebrow raised on her face.

"Uh… Hot Mocha?" Jake said, using a bad nickname he'd coined for her. "Something tells me that ain't why they're here."

"He's right," Touka said with a nod. "We came here because we need the Somnus Charm."

Moka's eyes widened, as her previous angered expression returned. "Un. Be. Liev. A. Ble," she said slowly. "After all the… everything you've… you have the gaul to come back here for one of my family's belongings. And without anything so much as an apology!"

"If it's any consolation," Touka replied, "I wouldn't have even come here at all if not for them!" she added, gesturing over her shoulder at her companions.

Moka's expression suddenly changed into one of pure fury upon hearing that! Everyone else shook in fear. "Oh," Danny said, "I think she just effed up."

Sure enough, the next instant, Touka was knocked into the air and flew backward toward the farthest wall at the end of the hall, slamming against it with a loud echo, and dropping to the ground with a grunt! Moka, who had frozen in her pose upon kicking Touka into the air, adjusted herself so she was standing normally and dusted off her coat. She walked calmly over toward the winded Touka, everyone else merely staring at her in surprise, not quite sure what they should do. Moka crouched down in front of Touka, who looked back up at her with her eyes in their natural ghoul appearance.

"Now you," Moka said quietly, "can go screw yourself. You honestly think you can just sashay into my castle as if nothing is wrong and take my things without so much as an apology for what you did last time?"

Touka released a growl, throwing a fist against the ground in anger! "That was not my fault!" she said angrily, eyes still black and red. "You know that wasn't on me!"

"Then whose fault was it?" Moka asked.

"Jeez," Ben said firmly, "is there any person Touka knows that she hasn't managed to turn against her in some way?"

"Honestly…" Danny replied, "no." Ben merely rolled his eyes. Relenting to his fate, he walked over towards the girls, finding himself in the role of moderator once again.

"Okay you two," he said, "that's quite enough. Now I have no clue what happened between you both, and I have only heard of the Dark Realm today, but like you said Moka, what happened in the past has to stay in the past, because quite frankly we don't have the time to continue arguing."

Moka raised a brow as she looked Ben over. "And what, pray tell," Moka said, "brings you to the Dark Realm in the first place, Ben Tennyson? You looked so cozy being the popular superhero that you were."

"Well," Ben replied, "there's been something going on back in… what, the 'Light Realm' or whatever? Basically, a good amount of people have had their mana infected by something and we need to figure out what caused it. This thing has reached the Ghost Zone too, according to what Danny has told me. And apparently, Touka thought that you had something we need in order to investigate. I can tell already that this is going to take a lot of convincing, but do you think you could give us this… Charm?"

Moka still looked thoughtful, merely staring into Ben's eyes. "You don't have to do it for her," Ben said, "but just do it for the people that need it."

"And what makes you think," Moka replied, finally breaking eye-contact with him and turning her head to the ground, eyes shut and a confident smile on her face, "that I care about humans whatsoever? What makes you think that I wouldn't take satisfaction in the number of people that are sick and dying because of what you described?"

Ben was taken aback. He was honestly stunned that she would take in such a manner. Or take such pride in it. But his face regained a sense of firmness as he continued looking at her and came up with an answer.

"Because," he said, "we're here in the first place." Moka perked up and looked at him as he continued. "Because I don't think Touka would take us here if she didn't know you would be willing to help us in this investigation. Because if she knew you were as mad at her as you turned out to be, you really wouldn't offer your help for her own sake, but for the sake of the people being affected."

"And if it turns out that you really don't care about the human lives at stake, you would no doubt do it for the Dark Realm. Because what's going on here has to do with the Dark Realm too. And I know that when my home is in danger, I won't hesitate to do anything in my power to make sure it is safe."

Moka looked utterly stunned by what Ben said. She could only blink and stare in awe. Even Touka and the other boys looked surprised. The only one that didn't look stunned silent was Annabeth, who had a smile on her face upon hearing what he said.

"Okay," Moka said, a smile on her face indicating her personality equalizing out. "Fair enough. I'll give you the Somnus Charm."

"Thank goodness," Touka said under her breath.

"But there is one condition," Moka replied smugly. "I have to come with you."

"Oh for the love of me!" Touka said, gripping her hair. "Why? Why do you want to even be near me anymore after all that?"

"Not you," Moka said, gesturing over to Ben. "Him."

"Me?" Ben replied.

"Yes," Moka said. "You got me interested Ben Tennyson. Now I want to see what else you have to offer."

"Hold up," Jake said, raising a hand. "If we're really doing this, can I come too? Because, I really want to see what happens next."

"It's okay with me," Moka shrugged.

"Same here," Ben added.

"I suppose he could be helpful," Annabeth added.

"Having the dragon on the scene could be fun," Danny said with a thumbs up.

"Brilliant," Touka growled. "As if we weren't running a risk of drawing attention to us as it is, now we have a dragon and a vampire to add to the mix."

She commenced brooding by leaning against the wall as Moka continued on to get the charm they needed, the only thing from this encounter that seemed to be working out in their favor as far as the ghoul was concerned. Annabeth looked at her with a reproachful gaze, before her expression softened looking closer to her. "Touka," she said, "your eyes."

"Huh?" Touka asked. She peeked at her reflection in a nearby display shield, and saw that her eyes were in fact still black and red. "Oh great," she said, rubbing her eyes and trying to relax herself. It was only now that she realized that her pulse was still racing, and her stomach was gnawing.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and promptly tensed up. She opened her eyes and saw Annabeth glaring at her with that fierce analysis that she would often pull with those damned gray eyes of hers. "You haven't been eating right, have you?" she asked firmly.

Touka broke eye-contact with her, that same stoic mien on full blast. "I have," she replied. "So you can quit suspecting me."

"Don't lie to me Touka," she said. "I can tell that you haven't been eating right. Why else would your eyes still be like that? Besides, knowing you, you can take a hit. Something like that shouldn't have phased you as much as it did, even if it was a kick from Moka."

"What're they talking about?" Ben asked.

"Remember what we said," Danny asked, "about ghouls having to eat human meat in order to live?"

"Yeah," Ben said, before realizing what he just said. "Wait, does that mean she hasn't-?"

"It's not as messy as it sounds," Danny replied. "Typically they don't get… fresh meat. But even still, not eating right can really mess up a ghoul."

"I can hear you assholes," Touka growled.

"Ignore them," Ananbeth said, "and pay attention to me for just two seconds."

"We don't have the time!" Touka said. "We just need to focus on the job. The sooner we get it done and figure out just what's happening, the sooner I can head back home."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue, but merely threw up her hands and turned to walk away, allowing Touka to lean back against the wall once more. The boys looked between the girls with nervous looks, Ben namely throwing Annabeth a sympathetic expression. He walked over to her and put a hand to her shoulder.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked. Annabeth looked at him, Ben almost feeling intimidated with the rate of power behind her eyes, but was able to stand his ground as he looked at her.

"I'll be fine," Annabeth replied. "It's just… have you ever had a friend, like, a really good friend, that you wished you could help in some way but they just shut you off at every turn and won't let you in, even if you know what you can do to help them?"

Ben looked at her firmly for a moment, before offering a shrug. "Something like that," he replied.

"And how did you handle it?" Annabeth asked.

"We nearly killed each other," Ben replied. Annabeth balked at Ben's response, before he continued. "But then," he said, "I saved him. Even if I thought he was too far gone."

Annabeth looked at him with a curious look now, silently asking what he meant. But, that was before Moka reentered the room. "I'm back," Moka said. "I trust you all have been playing nice?"

"Well," Jake replied, still looking at the exchange between Annabeth and Ben, before his gaze returned to the still sulking Touka, "depends on who you ask."

"I see," Moka said. "Well, I hope for those that are still having trouble adjusting," she said, throwing a glance Touka's way, "we get over it quickly. Whether we like it or not, we're a team now and we'll have to work together from here on out. So, let's get this show on the road, shall we kiddies?"

Ben felt a particular aura coming off of Moka as she turned and gestured for them to follow her. A wave of confidence and pride, as if she were suddenly the leader of the Magnificent Seven. It was a wave that sent a chill down his spine as he looked her in the eye. Those ruby red eyes that seemed to have unlimited control that ebbed its way into his head.

This was a vampire, plain and simple. The way that she looked at him with those eyes pulled up every record of vampires that Ben had heard of from movies or shows or comics that spoke of how they could hypnotize a person with just a look in the eyes. And to be frank, while Ben had stood up against megalomaniacs, monstrous aliens, or would-be conquerors, that one look from Moka was enough to honestly make Ben just the slightest bit… afraid.

* * *

_**A/N: And so we meet Moka Akashiya/Shuzen and Jake Long. These two are the other two characters that I knew to put in as soon as I conceived this story. In fact, Moka was one of the main characters I knew I wanted to put in with Ben, as the others just sort of fell into place.**_

_**In case some of you are confused about why Moka can access her true vampire powers on her own, this takes place after the second act of the story, during what is called the "After Story." In terms of canonicity, however, I'm taking it fairly loosely. In regards to certain plot elements or characters, it's, again, a loose interpretation (partly because I've yet to finish Rosario+Vampire). The most you need to know is that Moka is in her state where she has made peace with herself and both aspects of her identity are as one.**_

_**Jake is a more easy case, however. Like with Danny or Ben, he's after everything is said and done in his story. **_

_**In case you're wondering all the character's ages, pretty much all of them are around 17, with Ben being one year after Ultimate Alien's finale, Annabeth is 17 during/after the events of Heroes of Olympus, Touka is 17 at the start of Tokyo Ghoul, and the others are up in the air. I can't recall if/when we heard Moka's age, so I put her in the same range, while Danny and Jake are the only ones up in the air, considering they're said to be 16 around the end of their respective shows, despite Danny Phantom never making it apparent. So, you can say they're the youngest in the group, but I'm willing to put them about 17 as well.**_

_**So these are the six main characters that shall lead our story! If you're hoping to see more in the future, just let me know! I'm willing to include a few more here and there, namely a witch/wizard but I'm stuck on that one. So feel free to leave suggestions for other characters you'd like to join our heroes, feel free to let me know! And any other scenarios you'd like to see as well once "Pathos" is over, please let me know as well!**_

_**I hope you did enjoy this chapter, and thank you for reading!**_


	3. Pathos: Part 3

**The Ones Who Bump Back:**

**Pathos.**

**Pt. 3**

* * *

**Chapter Three: In Too Deep.**

Despite his earlier proclamations about how he knew Moka was going to do the right thing, Ben, while not outright skeptical about the prospect of working with a vampire, still had his reservations. Pretty much everything he'd heard from vampires came from stuff like movies which, just about 90% of the time, portrayed them as evil and wanting to enslave or destroy humanity, unless the film was an obnoxious rom-dram that left him feeling bored. Plus, that look that she had shot him earlier was still fresh in his mind, that almost hypnotic gaze that struck a chord with Ben.

He knew that he couldn't truly judge an entire race of creatures on stuff like that. Otherwise he would have never trusted that any alien was good, thanks to films about them, and thus wouldn't have made friends like the Helpers, a couple of Max's buddies, or… Well, it wasn't right to call Azmuth a "friend", but he was at least an ally of sorts.

"Uh… are you staring at me for a reason?" Moka asked, as the group continued walking towards their destination.

"Oh, sorry," Ben said. "I was just… thinking."

Moka giggled. "Don't apologize," Moka said. "I never said I didn't like it."

"Moka," Annabeth said firmly, "keep it in your pants."

"What do you mean?" Moka asked. "I'm flattered that somebody like Ben Tennyson finds me interesting! To be the center of attention to a celebrity!" As she spoke, she laid a hand across her chest dramatically, shifting back and forth from warm and cheery to tomboyish and flirtatious in a pattern that nearly gave Ben whiplash.

Annabeth rubbed her eyes, Moka snickering happily to herself. Ben watched the exchange with a raised eyebrow and a smile on his face. Ever since they picked up Moka and Jake for their party, things had certainly gotten more lively. Moka spoke nonstop about things that Ben couldn't even begin to comprehend, like bringing Annabeth up to speed on a few shows or movies she'd been following or stuff going on in the Dark Realm, while also ebbing out information from Annabeth about things going on in her own life that made the blonde girl a bit uncomfortable (which for some reason lead to her taking nervous glances in Ben's direction, as if she were hiding something).

Jake himself spoke of things that were more relatable in Ben's eyes. Stuff that existed in the "Light Realm" that Ben understood, which also lead to Danny finding a bit of enthusiasm in the conversation as well. Ben particularly found Jake to be entertaining, as the dragon behaved like a wannabe skater dude pulled straight out of the nineties who had gotten stuck in the modern day, where now behavior like that was seen as odd or just pathetic.

Danny and Jake were currently still wrapped up in a conversation as the group made their way, just behind Touka, who was in the lead, still keeping quiet, while Moka, Ben, and Annabeth took up the rear. Annabeth stepped away from Moka and walked alongside Ben.

"I apologize for… everything," she said quietly.

"Don't worry," Ben replied. "She's funny. I like her. Definitely not what I pictured a vampire being like."

"No," Annabeth said. "I promised that I would help you with this investigation, and all we've gotten so far is a bunch of monsters nipping at each other."

"It's still too early to start having regrets," Ben replied. "This has all been laying out the foundation. Next step we-" "Start building the house," Annabeth said, eyes shining in delight at the allusion.

Ben was taken aback by the amount of enthusiasm she displayed. "Not quite what I was going for," he said, "but sure, we can go with that. Whatever floats your boat."

Annabeth felt her face flush, as she looked away from Ben once again. "R-right," she said. "S-sorry, that was just me thinking about construction." Ben merely laughed. "You apologize too much," he said, nudging her with his elbow.

"But, honestly Ben," Annabeth said, "that's what I needed to hear. Thanks. It was a bit therapeutic."

Ben gave her a nod. "Always happy to help," he said. "I mean, it's what I do."

"Look alive, lovebirds," Touka said, "we're here." Before either Ben or Annabeth could reprimand her for that, they saw that they had indeed arrived at their intended destination: A hospital.

"So…" Ben began, "wanna remind me again what we're doing here?"

"We're investigating one of the victims," Annabeth replied. "By using the Somnus Charm that Moka has kindly let us use, we'll be able to hopefully figure out how they became affected."

Ben looked around the area, reading a lot of kanji on nearby store windows. "I don't know about you," he said, "but this does not appear to be Bellwood."

"Because it's not," Touka replied. "We're back in my home. If you had been paying attention earlier, you would have recalled that Annabeth showed me this activity that you described is not just happening in Bellwood, or even the Ghost Zone. It's happening in a lot of major cities."

"I saw that," Annabeth replied, "while doing some research on that ship of yours. Y'know, before it crashed."

"Ah," Ben said with a nod, displaying his understanding.

"We came to _this_ hospital," Danny added, "because Touka felt more comfortable being in her environment."

"That is true," Touka replied. "So we'll figure out what's going on inside a victim's memories, and then I can go back home."

"Your willingness to help," Annabeth said, "never ceases to amaze."

"Zip it," Ben said, "both of you. So, how do we get in?"

"It's a hospital," Touka replied, "not Fort Knox."

"I mean," Ben said, "how do we get in without drawing attention to ourselves? There's obviously going to be staff that's gonna wonder what a bunch of teenagers are doing just… walking inside."

"We could always break somebody's ankles," Moka said. "That could give us the excuse we need."

Everyone looked at her with shocked looks! Then, they all took a collective step away. "What?" Moka asked. "It was just a suggestion."

A nearby creaking noise got their attention, bringing them all to attention, where they saw Jake standing next to a door leading into the hospital from a nearby alleyway. "Will this help?" he asked.

The group approached, finding it to be an emergency exit. "Well," Annabeth said, "there's no alarm. So I guess that makes this as good an entrance as any."

Choosing to go with it, the group snuck their way inside. The smell of sterilization and repeated droning of heart monitors or breathing pumps and similar machinery hit them as soon as they entered. "Okay," Jake said, "where do we go from here?"

"Intensive care," Touka replied, already leading the way. "That's where the victims were put."

The group moved as silently as they could, the hallways thankfully empty for the most part. But any time a doctor or nurse approached, they had to duck into any nearby corner they could throw themselves in order to remain unseen! The pattern kept up as they made their way through, getting especially complicated as they had to make their way to the upper floors.

Upon one encounter, Ben almost had to laugh at their desperate attempts at stealth.

"What're you snickering over?" Touka asked, crouched next to him. "Keep it quiet!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Ben whispered in reply. "I just… I think we're the worst spies ever."

Touka raised an eyebrow at him, before she found herself grinning as well, as they resumed their journey. "Well," she said, "that's what happens when you have as many of us as there are. Just… try to keep professional, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Ben replied. "Don't worry about me. Push comes to shove I can turn into Grey Matter or Nanomech and hide in one of your pockets. Or better yet, Ghostfreak and turn invisible."

"Why haven't you done that already?" Danny asked.

"Why haven't you?" Ben replied. Danny was about to reply, but found that he could not. Ben smirked victoriously as the group began moving again. "I thought so," he said.

"Just stick with the buddy system. No losing track of anybody." "We're just walking through the hospital," Annabeth replied. "How would we lose track of each other?"

"You never know," Ben shrugged.

Moka was the one to laugh this time. "You're quite the character, aren't you?" she asked.

"What can I say?" Ben replied. "I like to keep things interesting."

"I should hope so," Moka replied.

Before too much longer, they found the entrance to the intensive care ward, Touka still up front.

They entered the ward and began looking at the plates on the different doors. "The most recent victim," Touka said, thinking aloud, "is right over… here!" She got up to the door, the others still trailing behind her, as she reached for the knob and started to turn it.

But, the second that she did, a voice was heard nearby! "What do you all think you're doing?" the voice asked. Everyone tensed up and looked over at the source of the voice, which turned out to be a nurse. "You all can't go in there! We have no idea what's-!"

Before she could finish, Danny promptly transformed and lunged at her, vanishing inside her body! Her eyes opened, revealing them to now be green and glowing, indicating that Danny had overshadowed her body. With a blink, her eyes returned to normal, and Danny saluted to the group with his newly acquired arm. "I'll make sure that nobody comes poking around here," he said casually, using the nurse's voice.

With a turn of the heel, Danny promptly began strutting towards the opposite end of the hall to keep anymore staff from coming near. "Okay," Touka said calmly, "take two."

"Is it… alright that he just did that?" Ben asked.

"Got any better ideas?" Jake replied.

The door was opened, and the group stepped inside, where a sight lay before them that sent a chill down their spines! The patient inside was a man, strapped down to the bed, with skin as white as a sheet, and eyes that were firmly open with dark crescents underneath. The eyes themselves were filled with bright red veins that indicated how unhealthy they were! Not to mention how their cheeks also appeared sunken, and lacking of life.

"Okay," Ben said, "definitely nothing good going on here." "What was your first hint, dawg?" Jake asked. "The pale skin or the messed up eyes? Or maybe the cheeks that look like messed up raisins!"

"Okay, enough out of you two," Touka said, "we need to get started." "Good point," Annabeth agreed. "Moka, the charm?"

The vampire nodded and held it out. The charm looked like an old fashioned gold coin, with an upside down triangle in the center, and a few carved markings around the perimeter that Ben couldn't begin to recognize.

"How does it work?" Ben asked curiously.

"It's basically a magical shortcut," Touka replied. "Allows anybody to access different planes of existence without having to do half a day's worth of incantations. With any luck, by poking around this guy's memories we can find out how his mana became infected."

"Moka, the charm?" "Wait," Moka said, stepping between the ghoul and the victim. "I mentioned before that I was coming with you, and this is still my charm. So I think I should go inside too and see what I can find with you."

"Have you ever used this charm?" Touka asked. "I have. And it isn't as easy as just diving into another person's memories."

"That exactly what it is," Moka replied. "And I know about the psychic overload that can come with it. Again, it belongs to me, so I have the final say on who uses it."

"Oh for - Fine!" Annabeth snapped, spooking both the ghoul and vampire. "If you both are still going to be playing this game, we'll all go in together, just so that way I can ensure that both of you don't go killing each other inside that guy's head!"

She promptly swiped the Somnus Charm from Touka's hands and laid it on the victim's forehead. The next instant, the Somnus Charm glowed brightly, before a wormhole of some kind opened up in the guy's forehead! Annabeth proceeded to grab both Touka and Moka by their ears, causing the both of them pain, as the three seemed to turn into a kind of smoke that flooded inside the wormhole!

"Well that all just sort of happened," Ben said. "We didn't even take part in that at all." "Women, am I right?" Jake added.

"Apparently," Ben said. He crossed his arms and casually leaned against a wall, not knowing how long it might take for the girls to find the clues they were looking for. "Hey, Jake," he said.

"Yo, waddup?" Jake replied.

"I don't really know you," Ben said. "In fact, I don't really know _anybody_ here. But I was just wondering, do you really transform into a dragon?"

"Yeah," Jake replied. "My mom is a dragon too. Well, kinda. Basically the part of our bloodline that allows her to transform into her true dragon form missed her, and instead went to me."

"I see," Ben replied. "I saw another dragon earlier today, but it walked on all fours and didn't talk to me. Is that… normal?"

"Well," Jake replied, "did it give you a reason to talk?"

"Uh… no?" Ben replied.

"So maybe," Jake said, "it was smarter than you thought, but it just didn't want to talk?" He was speaking in a pretty cheeky manner, giving Ben the indication that he still had a lot to learn about the Dark Realm.

"Okay, barring that," Ben said, "so, is this… your true form?"

"Well, kinda," Jake replied. "I suppose it all depends on how you look at it. My mom has dragon blood, and I've heard from my grandpa that dragon blood is so pure that it's basically what makes me up entirely. Ain't got no real human blood in here."

"So, no blood donating then, I take it?" Ben asked.

"Nah, dawg," Jake replied. "Not a fan of needles. But anywho, my dad is human, and I still live like a human, going to school, chillin' with my friends, going to concerts and all that smooth stuff. You dig?"

"I… guess," Ben replied. He was having a hard time keeping up with Jake's "cool guy" vocabulary.

"But I still do stuff that dragons do," Jake replied. "I still help out any magical crew that I can find in the Dark Realm. That's what we dragons are meant to do. That's how I met Moka. She's come to me for help a few times, and now we're all pretty tight."

"And do you know Touka or Annabeth?" Ben asked.

"Nah," Jake replied. "She doesn't really talk about her personal life whenever we chill. She's always keeping it mad professional."

"I see," Ben replied again. "Well, it seems the three of them have some real history between each other."

"No joke," Jake replied. "And a mad amount of baggage too. Mostly that Touka girl."

Ben gave a nod. He just hoped that the three of them could hash out whatever was going on between them, or else this investigation was going to become really harsh before it even got fully off the ground.

Just outside the intensive care ward, Danny was continuing to keep his eyes peeled (or rather the nurse's eyes) for anybody that might try to get into the ward so he could divert them away. For a minute or two, there was nothing of any note. Nobody came near that area, which he honestly didn't mind, and Danny just remained standing guard. Until he caught a whiff of something nasty. Something really, _really_ nasty!

"Oh, man," he groaned, holding a hand over the nose he was using! "What the heck is that? Did somebody drop a bedpan or what!? Ho!"

Knowing he would never maintain focus with that smell nearby, he walked towards where it was coming from. Soon enough, he saw a trail of brown coming out from under the door to the nearby bathroom. "Oh great," he said, turning back around, unable to do anything about that. That's when things went from bad to worse.

The lights overhead began to flicker, before they turned totally black! Then, a form slammed out of the bathroom door! What looked like brown, slimy tentacles whipped around, Danny hastily dodging to the side to avoid being hit, before they retreated back in the room! Then, as Danny continued backing away, the entire creature came crashing out of the room, writhing up the side of the wall, as it forced its way out!

It was a brown, sludgy form, walking on some kind of buglike tendrils that grew from the mass! An almost humorous, cloud-like shape that was large enough to practically take up the entire hallway! The smell that was almost as noxious as rotting flesh was still smelled as the thing moved towards Danny at an almost impossible rate of speed, heat pouring off the creature!

"Is that… what I think it is…?" Danny asked, moderately horrified. Stirring himself, he ran to a corner, where he found the desk to the opening of the intensive care ward, vaulting over it and letting the girl he was possessing go! He flew back towards the creature and shot beams of Ecto-Energy from his hands! Unfortunately, the monster was more or less unaffected by the attack, the beams shooting right through the semi-liquid form, before it just repaired itself a moment afterwards! It tackled Danny to the ceiling, a burning sensation promptly shooting into Danny's chest, before the creature shifted, wrapping around Danny, and throwing him to a wall!

Danny pushed himself back up, seeing that a brown stain had gotten on his chest! "Oh come on!" Danny yelled. "Did you seriously just get-?"

He stopped himself in time to jump over and fly around in the air as the entity continued attacking him! Danny knew that whatever this thing was, it was not related to a ghost like before, or else his Ghost Sense would have gone off! But he didn't bother wondering where the thing came from so he could just focus on the fight!

Danny fired more beams of energy at the monster, but like before, they continued to have no affect! The monster slammed Danny against the wall, before its entire body shifted into a tendril that wrapped around Danny's body! It slammed Danny against one wall… then the other… And then the floor… before finally it tossed him down the hall! Danny was about ready to transform back to normal thanks to all the abuse, but managed to push himself back up, eyes now glowing blue!

"What the heck was tha- what?!" Ben yelled, having left the room upon hearing the sounds of conflict outside! Danny fired off ice beams from his hands that froze the creature in place! However, the ice began popping and steaming, indicating that the creature beneath was incredibly hot! "Okay…" Danny said. "Didn't see that coming."

The creature blasted from the ice, slamming on top of Danny, who managed to turn intangible at the last second, thankfully sparing him from that disgusting fate! Ben activated the Omnitrix, as Jake transformed into his dragon form at the same time! Jake began flying in midair, looking at the creature intently!

"Yo, slime boy!" Jake said confidently. "If ya'll don't like the cold shoulder, how bout' we turn up the heat!" He breathed a jet of fire all over the creature, causing it to hiss and roar in discomfort! "How the heck is that thing even groaning?" Danny asked. "It doesn't even have a mouth!"

"Don't question it!" Ben replied, settling on a transformation! Holographic images of his transformations, much like the Ultimatrix or his old Omnitrix, appeared over the faceplate until he chose his transformation, where it then opened as the dial popped out. Ben punched it back down to activate the transformation, and with a flash of green, Ben transformed into Heatblast, ready to assist Jake with his attack!

He shot his own blasts of fire from his hands that further smothered the entity in heat! "Uh…" Danny said, realizing he had no fire attack to use. "I'm just gonna cheer you guys on! Keep it up! Bring the heat!"

With a massive roar, the creature shot tendrils out that struck both Jake and Heatblast, pinning them to the ceiling and a wall respectively! "Well that stinks," Heatblast said. "This thing isn't like fighting Sludgepuppies!"

"Uh… Ben…" Danny said, firing off energy blasts to distract the creature from continuing to harm them. "I hate to break it to you, but… this thing ain't mud!"

Heatblast raised an eyebrow (or what stood for one), before the foul smell told him what Danny meant. "Oh you are kidding me…" he growled. Fueled by rage at his disgusting situation, he blasted heat from all over his body to cause the creature's tendril pinning him down to pop, freeing him from his situation! Heatblast shot into the creature, body condensed in fire, and just began wailing on it!

Danny took this opportunity to slice off the tendril holding Jake, freeing the dragon from his own position! "Thanks man," Jake said. "Man this thing is nasty!" "You're telling me," Danny agreed.

The creature flattened Heatblast with its massive form, before tossing him into both Danny and Jake, causing them to roll across the ground! "I don't suppose anybody's got any ideas?" Danny asked.

"Uh…" Heatblast said, raking his brain. "We need to protect the people, that much is obvious. Give the girls more time until they can help."

"Well that shouldn't be much of a bother," Jake replied, "considering this thing seems pretty dead set on crushing us!"

Ben pressed the Omnitrix dial on his chest, transforming himself into Echo Echo! He duplicated himself and charged towards the creature, surrounding its body, before letting out waves of sonic from his mouth! The multiple attacks caused the creature to shriek in pain! It shot out more tendrils that knocked the clones aside, many were destroyed, whilst others slammed across the ground or walls!

Jake and Danny rushed in to assist, blasting with either fire or ice! The creature continued to wail as it threw itself around to crush the dragon or ghost, causing the both of them to dodge and avoid as many attacks as they could!

Echo Echo shook his head, well one of them, before jumping over Danny as he was knocked aside by the creature! The monster then crawled from the wall to the ceiling as it now chased after Jake! The dragon continued shot flames at the creature, which ended up triggering one of the sprinklers.

Water poured down on top of the creature, making it wail in pain once again! Echo Echo got another idea this time, transforming into Ampfibian! He shot electricity at the creature, causing it to convulse in a wild, moving blob from the mixture of water and electricity!

"Well," Danny said, "that's definitely doing something."

"What was your first hint?" Ampfibian asked.

The creature managed to knock Ampfibian aside with convulsing tentacle, knocking him into Danny, and sending the both of them flying down the hallway! With the attack gone, the creature slammed Jake against the wall next before the dragon could attack! It then caught Jake and tossed him aside next, where he flew right over Danny and Ampfibian's heads, slamming against the nearby wall behind them!

The creature continued to roar, as it made its way over to the door that the victim the girls had entered was being kept! "No you don't!" Danny screamed, releasing a Ghostly Wail that sent the monster back against the farthest wall! Only by sliding into a nearly puddle like form, did it slide its way beneath the attack, and wrap itself around Danny!

It began dragging the ghost down the hallway, prompting both Ampfibian and Jake to pursue them!

* * *

"Moka… Moka!" The young vampiress shook her head, coming back to reality. She saw Touka and Annabeth looking at her with questioning expressions, Annabeth having let go of the both of them. Inside the man's mind resembled a kind of spectral sea that stretched out somewhat endlessly.

"Sorry," Moka said. "Got distracted."

"I told you," Touka said. "Your mind will get overwhelmed quickly."

"I can handle it," Moka said. "Don't worry about me."

Annabeth merely continued rolling her eyes at her friends' squabbling, and began searching for the memory that would link them to the situation at hand. The memories appeared as glowing orbs that when touched, showed the events before her. She instantly put herself to work, looking from one to another to find the most recent one.

"And as per usual," Touka muttered, "little miss Daughter of Athena jumps right to work as is convenient for her." "If you have something you want to get off your chest, Touka," Annabeth said, "let it wait until we get out of here."

"But Annabeth," Moka said, "with your ADHD, wouldn't you want a distraction?"

"You're going there Moka?" Annabeth asked.

"Sorry," Moka giggled. "I'm just being honest. You know I adore you."

"Yeah," Touka said sarcastically. "That honesty has always done well for you."

"Don't think I'm the one who burnt that bridge!" Moka said firmly. "You've always been the troubled one. Not me!"

"Please!" Touka said. "I sacrificed everything for you! My time. My health. Everything to make sure that you were happy while you were stuck as that stupid, pink bimbo!"

"Bimbo!?" Moka asked angrily. "She is every bit a part of me as I am!"

Annabeth felt a splitting headache forming. _This really was a terrible idea, _she thought. _We aren't ever going to accomplish anything with these two around._

"And once again," Touka said. "Annabeth is ignoring us "

"Unlike you both," the demigod said, "I am actually trying to focus on why we all came out here. Which was not to have some petty argument!"

"Petty!?" Touka said. "You think that this is petty!?"

"Yes! I do!" Annabeth replied. "Because you ran away from us, so you have no right to hold a grudge!"

"I only ran," Touka said, "because you two already gave up on me!"

Annabeth and Touka looked each other in the eye, Moka shaking her head in turn. Like Annabeth, she didn't want to keep up with this argument when they really couldn't afford to. As her eyes moved, she suddenly came upon what they had been looking for. Standing in the outskirts of the "field" of memories, she saw what she could identify as the most recent one. "Guys," she said, getting their attention. "This is it."

The three looked at the memory, as Moka held her hand out. The space around them became a full reconstruction of the moment that had gone on. The man, whoever he was, had been operating on a car in a garage, just minding his own business. But as the girls continued to watch, they caught sight of a dark figure emerging from the ground behind him, totally cloaked in shadows, as he got to his feet, wiping his hands with a rag.

The shadowy figure held a hand out towards the man, grabbing him by the back of his head. The man shuddered and convulsed in what appeared to be sheer pain, before dropping to the ground in a heap! He now looked every bit as bad as he did on his hospital bed, cheeks sunken, skin pale, eyes dried.

The figure then vanished in a wave of smoke. And like that, the memory stopped. "Huh," Moka said. "Did either of you see that?"

"See what?" Touka asked. "The fact that the guy dropped just from that thing grabbing him?"

"No, not that," Moka said. She waved her hand and the memory restored itself. She froze it on the image of the dark creature holding its hand out, grabbing the man by the back of his head. She got in closer, seeing something pinned to the creature's chest that caught her interest. While the details of the figure were totally obscured in darkness, she could see the thing pinned to his chest jutting out.

"That," she finished. She grabbed onto the thing and held it out in front of her. The rest of the memory vanished in a haze as she held onto the image in her hand, which had turned into a golden wireframe shape. It was a circular object, a charm of some kind, with a number of plain lines that were etched into the face. Two vertical lines on the top and bottom, with one in the middle that stretched across, tilting upward on either side.

"What is that?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't recognize it," Touka replied.

"Me neither," Moka conferred. "We will have to investigate that later it would seem."

The entire memory space suddenly shook violently, and what could be labelled as a fierce roar was heard! "What is going on!?" Annnabeth asked.

"Something must be happening to the man's body outside!" Touka replied. "We need to get out of here now!"

"One more second!" Moka said. She held her hands around the image of the charm she had plucked. She was pumping as much yoki as she could into it in order to pull it from the mindscape back into reality!

Finally, she deemed it satisfying and nodded to the other girls! The three then proceeded to shoot upwards, out of the mindscape and back into the real world!

* * *

Ben struggled to free himself from the creature! During his pursuit of the monster, it managed to wrap itself around Ben - who had transformed into XLR8 - and Jake, keeping the three of them trapped as it returned to the room where the victim was being kept, looming over his bed! Danny was able to free himself by becoming intangible, and then flew right towards the victim! However, the monster slapped him aside with one massive tendril, causing Danny to slam face-first against a wall!

That did it. Leaving a trail of green that turned to red, Danny transformed back into his human form and crumpled onto the ground.

Ben continued to put up a fight, at least trying to free his arms! If he could just transform again into somebody like NRG or Shocksquatch, he might get out of this! He might at least be able to get the man free and play keep away!

However, with a flash of light, the girls all appeared out of the Somnus Charm dropping to the ground. Moka took one look at the creature that was hanging over them, looking rather unamused. The creature promptly released everyone and sent its full gargantuan form at her! But the next moment happened in a flash, as Moka just kicked the creature, and caused it to completely explode in a storm of… feces!

Everything was silent for a moment, save for the disgusting sounds of the creature's essence sliding about the room. Ben was the first to react, after transforming back to normal. "What the heck was that?" he demanded. "You just kicked that thing once and it fell apart? We were throwing everything we had at it for the past fifteen minutes and it wasn't stopping!"

"Of course," Moka replied simply. "I'm a vampire."

"That doesn't explain-!" Ben began, but Jake cut him off. "Don't worry about it," Jake said, also transforming back to his own human form. "You'll only break your head."

Danny staggered back to his feet, face bruised and bloodied after connecting with the wall a few moments ago. "I feel like a rainbow…!" he said. He shook himself off, drying his nose a bit, before continuing. "Did you… ahem, find what you were looking for in there?"

"Yes," Annabeth replied. "But now we need to find exactly where the source came from. And that might become more complicated."

"Well it's not like things weren't complicated enough," Ben replied. "Now we got both ghosts and monsters of unknown origin hunting us down, with no idea where either came from."

"Just another day at the office for you, huh?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, indubitably," Ben replied.

"Then let us continue?" Moka asked.

She lead the way out, as everyone slowly began following her.

* * *

"I know what this is," Ben said, looking at the symbol that the girls had pulled from the head of one of the mana victims. The group had returned to Anteiku, enjoying some coffee as they went over the facts. Ben was looking at the image that Moka had taken from the victim's mind, which was floating over a magic circle that she had created to merely project the image outward.

"It looks like one of the Charms of Bezel," Ben said, as he sat on a stool against the bar counter. "But my cousin and I destroyed them when we were ten years old. What one of them is doing here is anybody's guess."

"You said _charms,_ as in plural," Jake said. "That mean there are more than one of them?"

"Yeah," Ben replied. "Each one has a unique ability about it. One gave my cousin the ability of luck when she first used it, but they can also do other things too. Like elemental abilities, or even being able to resurrect. But which one this is, I have no idea."

"But do you know who might have gotten them?" Annabeth asked.

"Sure thing," Ben replied. "And we look no further than the lunatic that had been using them the last time we fought: Hex."

"Hex," Moka replied. "Who is that?"

"He's a sorcerer," Ben replied. "Did the whole 'seeking unlimited power' thing back when Gwen and I first fought him. Gwen's been keeping tabs on him, given the fact that he used to be one of our archenemies, but he's thankfully been keeping quiet for a long while. I guess that's all changed now."

"Anything we gotta know about him?" Jake asked.

"Being a sorcerer," Ben replied, "he'll use spells and all that jazz. But he isn't hard to take down if you can just give him one mean punch to the head. We haven't really fought in forever, so I don't know how his magic might've changed over the years."

"So expect the unexpected," Danny said. "Good enough for me."

"We'll rest up for a little while," Moka said, "and then we'll head over to where he is currently based out."

"Sounds good to me," Ben replied. "After that last fight, I could use a break."

"Yeah," Danny agreed, "that fight was a real… _crapfest_."

Ben looked at Annabeth with a baffled expression. "What was that?" he asked, referencing Danny's pun.

"You get used to it," Annabeth said. "...actually, scratch that, you really don't."

Ben shook his head as he sipped his coffee, cringing at the flavor! "Black? Are you kidding me?" he said, sending Touka a reproachful look as she stood behind the counter, enjoying her own drink.

"What?" she asked. "With all of us here, you expect me to flavor everyone's drinks according to their preference?"

"Well you could at least consider me," he said, sounding offended. "I am a hero!"

Touka shook her head. "I shall endeavor to please you in the future," she said, "Mr. Hero." Ben merely smirked at her, as he flavored his drink to his liking. While he still preferred smoothies, he soon enjoyed the coffee, particularly the added kick that it gave him.

"You're one brave dude," Danny said. "Whenever I talk to Touka like that, I end up with a bruised nose."

"I have fought conquerors and mutants," Ben replied, "I have no fear."

"Either that," Jake replied, "or you're arrogant as to think she won't break your kneecaps the moment you go one step too far."

"Let it be said," Ben replied, "that I welcome retaliation."

"Brave indeed," Moka said, a bit flirtatiously. "A man with backbone is always interesting." Annabeth could only sigh at their banter, despite her smile.

The group began mingling casually amongst themselves, but Ben picked up something nearby. Off in the corner, Touka was just sitting by herself. Ben had noticed this because, while he still knew jack diddly about the Dark Realm, he still felt like the leader of the team. He knew that, even without knowing about the Dark Realm itself, he was the one that had grown the most used to the "saving the world" concept, on top of the discovery that one of his enemies from his childhood was responsible for what circumstances brought them all together.

So, it was only natural that he saw her standing alone. He turned to the other girls, specifically Annabeth, and pinched her cheek. She naturally recoiled in pain, smacking his hand away with a dramatic, "ow!" Ben checked on Touka, seeing that she had noticed that, even fighting off a laugh. Ben smirked, thinking, _step one, done! _

"Ben, what the hell!?" Annabeth said in annoyance.

"Go talk to Touka," Ben replied, looking her in the eye.

"What?" Annabeth asked. "What're you talking about?"

"Look," Ben said, "I don't know what happened inside that guy's head, but whatever it was, it's gotta stop. You two and Moka can't keep arguing with one another at every turn. I was kind of hoping that inside that guy's head you would have hashed all this out, but obviously you didn't. You only made things worse. So, now that we have the chance, settle it."

"But-" Annabeth said.

"No buts!" Ben said. "Just hash it out, okay?"

"Who died and put you in charge?" Annabeth asked. "Aren't you working with all of us in the first place because you don't know anything about the Dark Realm?"

"That may be true," Ben said, "but I'm still the one who's the most used to saving the world from bad guys, and it's my bad guy that is the one responsible for all this. So when the going gets rough out there, I can't afford to babysit you three." He then proceeded to pinch Annabeth's nose. "Hop to it."

Annabeth looked stubborn, but finally relented with a sigh, standing up and walking over to the ghoul who was still in the same spot. "Hey," Annabeth said. Touka took a sip of her drink before replying with, "hi."

Annabeth looked awkwardly at the ground, Touka not speaking further. Annabeth took another breath and tried to steel herself. "Look," she said, "about what happened back in that guy's memories, I don't-"

"Save it," Touka said. Annabeth was taken aback, before Touka continued. "I know you're only here because you were put up to it. If you're not going to apologize and do it sincerely, then don't bother at all."

Annabeth ground her teeth and clenched her fists, frustration growing from the pit of her gut! "I. Am. Trying," she said slowly. "I am trying to get through to you! But I just… I just can't help you if you don't let me!"

"Then stop acting like it's my fault," Touka said.

"It is!" Annabeth said in exasperation.

Ben could only look at the exchange in silence. The others were no better, unable to pull their collective gaze away from either Half-Blood or ghoul. "What is their story?" Jake asked. "They've been at each other's throat the whole time." He turned his gaze to Moka, who was only casually paying attention. "You too," he added. "You and Touka have been pretty aggro this whole time."

Moka gave a heavy-hearted sigh. "You know how we used to spend time together," she said, "and acted as supports for one another, yes?"

"Yeah," Ben replied. "We got that much."

"Well," Moka continued, "the problem with Touka is that she tries… too much."

"What're you saying?" Jake asked. "How can somebody be _too _supportive?"

"At the expense of her own health?" Moka replied. "Yes, I should think that would be too supportive."

"Touka has a bad habit, of doing things that go one step too far. Like, she has a human friend who offers to share her lunch, or even made her a meal for Touka when she was sick. So, Touka ate the food."

"But," Ben said, "I thought you guys told me that ghouls can't eat human food?"

"They can't," Moka replied. "Or rather, they can but they get no sustenance from it, and it all tastes like pure filth. Typically, if a ghoul is trying to pass for human they'll just swallow the food whole, and regurgitate it later."

"Gross," Jake said.

"But Touka doesn't," Moka replied. "At least with her friend. She forces herself to eat the food whole, no matter how revolting it is for her."

Ben let loose a curse under his breath. "Why would she do that to herself?" Ben asked. "It can't be healthy."

"It isn't," Moka replied. "But she does it because she cares too deeply."

"But you still haven't answered," Ben said, "how this lead to you three splitting up."

Moka tilted her head back. She peeked at Annabeth and Touka, who were still heatedly discussing, probably knowing nothing about what the rest of the group was discussing. "It happened a few months ago," Moka replied.

* * *

_**A/N: Not much else to say about this chapter. Figuring out the best way to demonstrate the fight between the heroes and the "Crap Monster" was fairly fun, especially their reactions to what it's made of. I was also a fan of showing how Moka could take it out in one hit, like she does, even after the guys put their all into it!**_

_**I always preferred the look of Ben's alien selection in Alien Force and Ultimate Alien (UAF as it's commonly abbreviated) so I decided to use it like that for this story (well, as much as I could get it to in written word). I dunno, I just wasn't a fan of the circular hologram with almost chibified versions of the aliens' faces in the selection screen. I get they were trying to go for a phone app style selection so... I find that dumb, especially compared to a detailed holographic representation of each alien species.**_

_**I also failed to note this earlier, but for Moka's outfit design, I tried hard to think about an outfit that would suit Moka, with both her established tomboyish personality, and what would suit her best for her preferred fighting style of using kicks. I ended up recalling an outfit belonging to Megurine Luka (a 'Vocaloid' AI singer) dubbed as her "Successor" outfit, and I felt that it would suit Moka well, being both professional and comfortable. I changed a few slight details, but the majority is there. Go check it out!**_

_**If you have a different look you think would work on Moka, let me know.**_

_**On that note, I also changed Danny's human look a bit too. Not by much, I just liked the idea of Danny using a hoodie like in Butch Hartman's official "College Years" design for him. I also gave him some new pants and shoes too, just to complete the look. And you can also presume that I'm still having Ben wear his UAF ensemble as well.**_

_**As always, thank you for reading! And any characters you would like to see in the future, I'm still open to suggestions! See you next time, where we learn about how the girls had their falling out.**_


	4. Pathos: Part 4

**The Ones Who Bump Back:**

Pathos.

Pt. 4.

* * *

**Chapter Four: Showdown.**

_Three Months Ago… _

"How did you manage to get this here?" Moka asked. The vampiress was looking with mild confusion as both Annabeth and Touka set down a large egg on the dock that they had agreed to meet up at. From looking at it, she could tell that it looked like the egg of a hippocampus, but her brain was unable to comprehend how in the world the two of them could have gotten their hands on an egg like that.

"It's a long story," Annabeth replied.

"Why do you need one?" Moka asked.

"If you would wait a minute," Annabeth said, "I would tell you." Moka merely crossed her arms and looked at the two, Touka sighing in response.

"We got one from Annabeth's boyfriend," Touka said, "because we need the blood of a hippocampus embryo in order to start this ritual. Is that enough?"

"I can take that," Moka replied. "But when you told me that you needed me for a banishing ritual I didn't think it would involve… this."

"If what her cousin says is true," Touka said, "we definitely need it." She said this as she adjusted her mask. At the moment, to avoid being detected by anybody that would want to hunt her down or vow vengeance upon her for interfering, she was dressed in her 'Rabbit' uniform, made up of a dark hoodie over a plain white rabbit mask that concealed her face, and even a pink wig that hid her short, dark hair.

Moka was not one to argue with her Touka. If what she had heard from Annabeth's cousin was to be believed, they would need every ounce of help they could get if they were going to keep this water goddess, Ran, satiated. "But would you mind telling me," she asked, "why we are even the ones who need to take part in this?"

"Because," Annabeth said, "we do what we can to help."

"I don't agree with that," Moka said. "While I may be a vampire, I'm not contractually obligated to go running around playing peacemaker. What do you think I am, a dragon?"

"Just deal," Touka said. "The sooner we can do this, we'll be good."

"But," Moka continued, "we're seriously going out on the water? Do you two know what water does to vampires?"

"Don't fall in," Annabeth replied smugly, "and you'll be fine."

Moka merely rolled her eyes. "I swear," she said, "you two are _trying _to kill me.

She picked up the egg, which was quite heavy for a normal person, under one arm and carried it towards the dock. Touka and Annabeth were right behind her, following her towards the boat they were going to "borrow" to get this ritual over and done with. A few other objects that Moka had personally brought over were in her bag that was slung over her shoulder as well. Putting all of this together would fulfill the ritual to put ease toward Ran. At least for awhile.

Just as the group made their way over, Touka came to a halt, her nose aimed in the air. "Guys," she said, bringing the others to a stop, "we're not alone."

Moka and Annabeth looked around, wondering what she meant. The next moment, an arrow came whizzing through the air that struck down right between the three girls! They all looked up, and saw what appeared to be some form of ninjas wearing bone-like armor came down in front of them!

"The Huntsclan," Moka growled.

"You know them?" Annabeth asked nervously.

"Hunters," Moka replied, "who partake in the murder of Dark Realm inhabitants."

"I've heard of them,' Touka replied. "I've purposefully tried avoiding them."

One of the Huntsclan soldiers, who wore a large chest piece that reached up and around his right shoulder, stepped forward, holding a bizarre sword that he pointed to Annabeth! Clearly he was the 'Elite' soldier. "We do not have any quarrel with you, demigod," he said. "Just surrender the egg, along with the vampire and the ghoul, and we will not harm you."

"I think not," Annabeth said, pulling out her own drakon bone sword!

"Then you force our hand," the Elite soldier said. "Huntsclan! Advance!"

Touka doubled over, her body sparking with what almost looked like fire that burst from the left side of her back, which sparked almost with electricity! A ghoul limb called a "Kagune", hers uniquely referred to as the "Ukaku Kagune." She swept her Kagune, sending a hail of spines that knocked the Huntsclan off their feet!

Annabeth blocked a strike from a spear with her sword, before pulling her knife from the back of her pants and bringing it against the Huntsclan member's chest! The soldier recoiled in pain, holding his chest, before Annabeth brought the flat end of her sword against the side of his head, and tripped him up with a swipe from her leg!

There were about eight of the Huntsclan there at the moment, Annabeth having knocked out one, three more preoccupied with Touka. That left four more to approach Moka. "All men," the Elite said, "focus all our attention on the vampire!"

Moka merely looked at the Huntsclan with vein disinterest. "Four against one?" she said. "That is very unfair." She put the egg down right in front of her feet, and slipped her bag off her shoulder. "For you that is," she added.

The Huntsclan all lunged for her with daggers ready, but Moka delivered a solid roundhouse kick that knocked them all down! They all flew through the air and bounced or rolled along the dock thanks to that kick! She didn't let up, as she just rushed forward and kicked one Huntsclan member into the air, before jumping up and delivering a downward punch that further knocked him unconscious!

One more got back up, lunging at Moka with his daggers that she merely dodged around in a blur of nothing but silver motion, before elbowing him in the gut hard enough to knock the wind from his lungs and cause him to double over! Moka then swept his feet out from under him and kicked him while he was down, sending him right into the water!

Moka smiled confidently. She knew that this would be a breeze. While she was restraining her power so as not to kill them, she put in just enough to let her enjoy herself in this fight. The last two members picked themselves up off the ground, Moka rushing for the closest one, who just so happened to be the last mere grunt at her disposal, leaving the leader for last.

"Do you boys know why the Huntsclan never hunts vampires?" she asked, referring to Elite member that was still pulling himself back to his feet. "Because," Moka continued, "you are all totally outclassed."

Moka punted the Huntsclan member into the air, sending him into a roof where the last of him that was seen was nothing more than a billow of dust coming off the roof. "So," Moka said to Elite, "you feeling lucky big man?"

Back with Touka, she swung her Kagune one more time, sending all three Huntsclan members into evasive rolls in order to keep from being attacked! "The Kagune isn't solid!" one member said. "Fire upon her body!"

The Huntsclan fired darts from wrist mounted bows that came at her quickly! They embedded themselves in her arms or shoulder, causing her discomfort! Her Kagune went limp for several seconds before she was able to reignite it back to life!

Touka growled under her throat, her eyes glowing red upon her anger! "You're not the first ghoul we've fought," one Huntsclan member said. "We have ways of exterminating you, Rabbit!"

He found his bow knocked from his hand as Annabeth tossed her knife at him, rushing over with her drakon sword that she dug into his leg and knocked him down, stomping on his head to knock him unconscious! The other two members fired more darts at Annabeth, causing Touka to shield her with her Kagune! The Huntsclan members smiled as they thought that this would be her do-in, however, her Kagune was still solid!

To their shock, they found that her Kagune had turned as hard as crystal, immune to the effects of the darts, which shattered on impact! "Not gonna happen," Touka said, swiping her Kagune to knock the Huntsclan down and send them unconscious!

Her Kagune crumpled after that, practically dying out. "You okay?" Annabeth asked.

"Y-yeah," Touka replied. "Just tired. Even with my Kagune hardened, the toxins still doused it. Just give me a minute."

Back with Moka, she marched over to the Elite, who was backing away in fear. "Aw," Moka said, "are you scared? You should be."

However, the Elite tossed a pellet right in front of her feet that burst into a smoke that made her cough and gag, tears welling up in her eyes! "Garlic," the Huntsclan said. "Which also doubles, as a signal."

Ten more Huntsclan jumped down, having been watching the fight from the shadows, and leapt towards Touka and Annabeth, throwing them into evasive rolls! Moka gagged as the leader walked over and put a knife to her throat, as he grabbed her by the back of her neck and hung her over the ledge of the water! "I shall be praised," he said, "for bringing death to a vampire hatchling. When you are dead, your skull will be displayed on the Huntsman's staff, as a signal to all Dark Realm inhabitants. You are all forfeit."

"No!"

Touka lunged forward, only to get smacked in the side of the head by a Huntsclan soldier's dagger, cracking her mask, revealing part of her face! Touka hit the ground, more darts digging themselves into her back, causing her Kagune to vanish! She felt that her kakuhou gnawing at her, begging her for energy! The unique ghoul organ, which stored the Rc cells in her body that helped to form her Kagune, but the venom in those darts were draining her dry, causing her to lose any energy to grow her ghoul's limb!

She felt a foot planted in the small of her back, as a spear's blade pulled down her hood! Annabeth ran forward, bringing her sword down on a neighboring Huntsclan soldier's back, knocking him down, before she spun around and thrust her sword towards the second soldier's chest! The soldier blocked the strike with his spear, as Annabeth began grappling with him, while several more soldiers closed in!

Annabeth had a knife rush past her shoulder, blood gushing from the open wound! She grabbed her shoulder, causing her to drop her sword, as she screamed in pain! She was knocked from her feet as the soldier aimed his spear at her neck!

Nearby, Touka smelled the blood of her friend. And it smelled good. And it triggered her hunger.

She looked to Moka, who was still gasping for breath as the Elite threw her on her face, grabbing his blade with both hands. He knelt down on both knees, raising the blade above his head!

Touka looked at the nearby soldier that Annabeth had first knocked down, who was struggling to stand. Touka growled as she knew what she had to do to save her friends. She removed her mask and lunged forward!

Her adrenaline and energy had not been taken by the Rc suppressants, but that wouldn't be enough for her to fight off over ten Huntsclan soldiers at once! She grabbed the nearby soldier, picking him up as she proceeded to bite down on his shoulder! She ripped off a chunk of flesh, blood flowing out of his wound as he cried out!

Touka tossed him aside as she felt her kakuhou purring in delight. Her Kagune burst back to life in an instant, as she continued to chew and swallow on the bits of flesh she had begun devouring! The bright flash of energy from her Kagune was enough to have everyone pause as she got their attention!

With a single motion, she sent a flurry of darts that knocked down each and every Huntsclan soldier from their feet! She jumped towards the Elite, who aimed his blade at her in vain! With a single chop, she hacked his head clean off his body, causing it to topple in a gush of blood!

The other soldiers struggled to their feet, looking at her in fear as they saw their leader decapitated! "Shit!" one of them said. "The Elite is dead!" "We have to continue!" another said. "We must avenge his sacrifi-!"

A blade from Touka's Kagune dug into his heart, as she charged forward, her Kagune hardening into a crystal wing! She bashed it down on top of another, causing their body to be crushed in a literal bloody pulp!

"Forget it!" another soldier said. "We have to retreat! This monster is going to kill us all-!" Three more darts dug into his body, killing him next!

The others began to retreat, as Touka sent the fiery, electric wave toward them! She sliced one in half, before the wave dug into another's head!

"Touka, stop!" Annabeth said, smacking her upside the head with her dagger! Touka staggered, aiming a glare at Annabeth! "What!?" she said.

Touka recovered from her anger as she looked at Annabeth's steely look. The young ghoul surveyed the damage she had caused, and the bodies left in her wake. Even her eyes, which had been black and red returned to their normal dull color as she seemed to come back to her senses.

"Touka," Annabeth said, "this was completely uncalled for." "I-... I know," Touka replied.

"You didn't have to kill them all!" Annabeth said angrily. "I know!" Touka replied.

"Then why did you!?" Annabeth asked in anger. "Because," Touka replied, "they were going to kill Moka! They were going to kill you! I-I didn't know what else to do!"

"That still doesn't excuse it!" Annabeth said. "That was out of line! This is why people like the Huntsclan or the CCG are afraid of you!"

"Well what would you have me do!?" Touka said. "They wouldn't hesitate to kill either me or Moka!"

"I know," Annabeth said. "But you-" "But what!?" Touka said. "I have to be better than them!?"

"Touka," Moka said, managing to pick herself back up. "She's right. We do have to be better than them. You may not see it the same way, but we have to have the moral high ground. Otherwise, people like them will just be hunting us forever."

Touka looked at Moka with an awestruck expression. She shook her head in disbelief, before just up and turning away! "You know what Moka," she said, "screw you. After what I just did for you, I cannot believe you would not understand me!"

"What I understand," Moka said, "is that you only gave the Huntsclan more of a reason to hunt us down! And for that matter, now I'll have a target painted on my back, because they'll naturally think that I was the one who orchestrated all this!"

"You would have had one regardless!" Touka said. "You're a damn vampire, and these guys are monster hunters! And I'm embarrassed that you would just forget about that! I'm embarrassed over the fact that I put myself on the line like that for you and you just didn't give a shit! And I am embarrassed that you would forget about the pain and discrimination that we went through!"

"Touka, you're being overly dramatic!" Moka said.

"Am I!?" Touka said. "Or am I the only one between the both of us who bothered remembering everything that happened to us!? While you would just prefer to forget and let that pink thing you turned into truly take over your mind!"

Moka looked offended. "Is that what this is about?" she asked. "You're offended that side of myself has become a true part of my being?"

"Yes!" Touka said. "I did everything I could to ignore that side of you and treat you the same, but it's clear that you aren't the same anymore. So maybe it's for the best that I just leave."

With that, Touka grabbed her mask and rushed towards a nearby rooftop that she leapt on top of! "Touka! Wait!" Annabeth yelled.

But it was too late. Touka was already gone.

* * *

Moka sat still, her eyes glued to the counter as she finished recounting her story. The boys were all looking at her with shocked expressions, as Moka finished her tale. Ben in particular was staring at her with wide-eyes.

"We didn't talk to her much after that," Moka replied. "Even Annabeth and I slowed out conversations between each other. We just didn't trust Touka that much anymore, and we felt that if both of us were to see each other for very long the elephant in the room would rear its ugly head."

"Dang," Jake said. "Hard to think that Touka actually… did that. Even to the Huntsclan."

"That's why we cut ties," Moka said simply. "Annabeth and Touka just got into heated arguments if they tried talking after that. And sad to say the same thing happened between Touka and I as well."

"Is there… anything you can do?" Danny asked.

"I'm not sure," Moka replied. "I understand part of where Touka was coming from, but I just can't excuse her behavior either. It wasn't even killing the Huntsclan soldiers that is what hurt me the most. It was how she just... gave up on me because of how I am now. I don't know if I can forgive her."

"Who said you did?" Ben asked. Moka looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

"You don't have to respect or enable her decision," Ben said, "because trust me, I had something like that happen to me before."

"Really?" Moka asked.

"My best friend transformed into a hideous mutation," Ben said, "and began absorbing the powers of a lot of my other friends and allies, before trying to murder me and my cousin. So yeah, I think I do."

Moka raised an eyebrow. "Now I want to know that story," she said.

"Maybe later," Ben replied. "The point is, my friend had gone mad with power. Literally. The power he had absorbed had warped and twisted his mind to the point where all he could think about was absorbing more and more power, and I wasn't willing to show him any mercy after that. For awhile, I was hunting him down and was ready to kill him. Actually put him down like a dog."

"What?" Moka asked in shock, Jake and Danny silent as they now found themselves listening to Ben. The hero in question merely nodded in response to Moka, before continuing on.

"I felt so betrayed by him," he said, shaking his head as the memories returned. "When we were little, we used to be enemies. But we eventually became closer, almost like brothers. So when he turned I felt like the time that we spent together hadn't meant anything. That the second chance I had first given him was for nothing. So, I wasn't willing to give him another chance."

Moka looked at him incredulously. "Why?" she asked. "He wasn't responsible for that! Why didn't you-?"

"Try to help him?" Ben asked. "To make him better? Back then, I thought it wasn't worth it. I thought that it was too late for that. That it wasn't worth trying and the same thing would just up and happen again. It took me awhile, but I was eventually able to find another way and bring him back to sanity."

"The hard thing for me to realize during that time was the fact that my friend was not responsible for his actions. He was overtaken by this… beast inside of him and it wasn't really him behind the wheel. And something tells me, Touka isn't really too far from that same margin."

"While she may not be totally out there like my friend had been, there may be something else that drives her. That makes her act and react the way you described." Moka looked away, eyes now glued downward once again.

"Don't forsake her," Ben said, "like I nearly lost hope in my friend. I'm sure if you just listen, she'll be ready to reply."

He got back to his feet, looking at the clock. He figured that they had rested up enough by this point. He approached Touka and Annabeth, who had since separated after reaching another impasse.

"How is it going?" he asked.

"Fine," both replied.

"Understood," Ben said, a sweat drop on his forehead. "Listen," he added to Touka, "we're about ready to go now and take down Hex. I know you didn't really want to stick around Touka, but we'd-"

"Say no more," Touka said, holding up a hand. "I'll join you."

"You will?" Ben asked.

"Yeah," Touka replied. "I promised I'd see this through to the end, so it's only fair. Let me just get changed and I'll be good to go."

Ben raised an eyebrow as he watched her leave. "Changed?" he asked.

"Probably grabbing her 'Rabbit' uniform," Annabeth replied.

"Rabbit?" the boys asked.

"Most ghouls," Moka said, "wear disguises whenever they're hunting. It helps to keep them safe in their human identities."

Before long, sure enough, Touka came back down wearing her "Rabbit" uniform. The boys couldn't help but snicker in response to the mask she was wearing, causing her to lift up her mask and glare at them with her ghoul eyes. "You know," she said, "you see me in action wearing this thing and ya'll will be wetting yourselves."

"No doubt," Ben said stoically. "Alright gang, let's go kick a sorcerer's booty."

* * *

"That's his home?" Annabeth asked.

"I think the fact," Jake replied, "that it's a big ol' mansion in the middle of freaking nowhere is a pretty clear giveaway."

Annabeth hit him in the side of the head as Ben, Moka, and Touka stood front and center overlooking the mansion from the treeline. It actually looked like a japanese style temple, with carved draconic heads on each of the four corners from each level, and a large spherical window on the center tower. The front door was boarded up, but most bizarre of all, were the golem-like soldiers that Ben had had several run-ins with, acting as guards posted outside.

"So," Moka said, "what's the plan?"

Ben smirked. He was happy to be the one back in control, seeing that this was one of his enemies that they were dealing with now. "Jake," he said, "you're one of our tanks, so you and I will go in first and get his attention. Danny, Annabeth, and Touka will keep him on his toes while we try to take the brunt of his attacks. Moka, once you have an opening, I expect you to take it. One good hit from you should be enough to take him down."

"As it normally is," Moka said proudly.

"Alright," Jake said, cracking his knuckles. "If that's all. Dragon Up!" In a burst of fire, he transformed into his dragon form and took to the air! He flew straight ahead, heading right for the center window!

Inside Hex's mansion, the wizard himself was sitting right in the center of his library, his hands draped over the head of his staff and legs crossed as he hovered over a magic circle that was in the middle of the floor, brightly shining in shifting, dingy colors. As he chanted, the ground began shaking.

A roar caught his attention, causing him to look up to see Jake crash through the skylight and deliver a massive dropkick! Hex held up his staff, knocking him out of the air with a force of energy! Jake recovered and hovered in the air on his wings as Hex floated in the air above him, standing tall!

"A dragon," he said, sounding intrigued. "I should've known that my activities would attract unwanted attention."

"Worry about my attention!" another voice called. Hex looked up and saw Ampfibian shoot a blast of electricity that he quickly reflected! Ampfibian took the hit back in stride, reabsorbing the electricity, before floating right up next to Jake!

"Tennyson," Hex said, spying the hourglass shaped symbol on Ben's chest. "I knew that you would find your way back to me eventually. Where is your cousin, Gwen?"

"I don't need her to fight you, magic-man!" Ampfibian replied.

"You'll wish you had her," Hex said, aiming his staff at the ground. "I'm in the middle of something, boy. So you and your friend can fight others of his filthy kind!"

With a blast, three large shapes burst from the ground in a volcanic like explosion, roaring and snarling in fury as they dripped lava! Before long, both Jake and Ben found themselves staring down three large, stone dragons that loomed over them, at least thirty feet tall each, with lines bathed in red energy stretching around their bodies like the golems! "Yo, dawg!" Jake said. "Just cause we're the same species, does not make us family!"

Jake breathed fire at one of them, causing it to stagger, while another swiped him out of the air, Ampfibian firing blasts of electricity at the last one, knocking chunks off of it, before it slammed a claw down on top of him! Hex smiled confidently at the sight before him, before he was blasted in the back by Ecto-Energy! Hex's magic circle on the ground disappeared once he hit down, the shaking also stopping!

Danny flew down, sending a sphere of energy that Hex barely managed to knock aside with his staff! "A ghost as well?" Hex said. "You certainly have been keeping interesting company, Tennyson."

"And he's not even the half of it," Touka said, firing a storm of blades from her Kagune! Hex slammed into the far wall, groaning in discomfort as both Touka and Danny came down upon him! "Certainly interesting," Hex said, forcing the blades out of his chest or shoulder with a wave of force!

He held out his staff, causing vines to burst up from the ground that lashed out at both Touka and Danny! Danny blasted them with energy blasts as Touka shielded herself with her Kagune! The vines were destroyed, but Hex had proceeded to fly up in the air and out of reach of the ghost or ghoul!

"Uh, Jake?" Danny asked. "Don't suppose you or our alien friend are gonna be finishing up anytime soon?"

"Raincheck!" Jake said, caught in a deadly game of keepaway with one of the stone dragons, which tried to snatch him up in its jaws, as Ben had transformed into Humungousaur by this point and was in the midst of grappling with the other two dragons at once, trying to use his size-increasing powers to give him an edge!

"Alright then," Danny said. "Get back here!" He shot up after Hex blasting ice beams from his hands that Hex hastily blocked with a blast of fire from his staff! The blast proved incredibly powerful as it quickly overtook Danny's ice beams and blew him out of the air within seconds!

"Phantom!" Touka said, hastily catching Danny! She kneeled down and laid him on the ground. "You okay?" she asked.

"I feel great," Danny replied. "I always wanted to know what it's like to be an extra crispy ghost."

"I must admit Tennyson," Hex said, "I find it humorous that you now associate yourself with adolescent ghosts, ghouls, and dragons to aid you in battle. You truly have come far since you were ten years old."

He held out a staff and sent more spectral bolts towards them, causing both Touka and Danny to dodge! Danny sent more blasts that Hex deflected! Touka sent her Kagune, now crystallized and sparking with electricity, towards Hex, but he created a magic circle to block the ghoul limb!

Danny managed to catch him off guard a second time, by creating a doppelganger that punched him from an open spot, sending him from the air! Both Dannys kept up the attack, Hex having to send out a wave that knocked Danny aside and destroyed his clone!

Hex attempted to recover, finding Touka leaping at him! He aimed his staff, but an invisible force knocked him in the back of his neck and the small of his back! Touka slammed him with numerous kicks, before nailing him hard enough with a kick that knocked him into a wall! His body surged with pain from the force in his spine! However, Hex's eyes glowed for a moment, as a burst of red mana shot from his body!

Touka and Danny kept back as Hex surged with power! Hex pulled his staff, before he felt a piercing pain in his side! Hex held up a hand, tendrils of mana forming all over him that grabbed onto something!

After a moment, Annabeth became visible, the magic from her invisible New York Yankees's cap being cancelled out by Hex's own magic, dropping off of her head! "I see," Hex said. "Very clever, Half-Blood."

He sent magic through Annabeth's body, before tossing her into a wall! Danny shot towards Hex, phasing into his body as he attempted to overshadow him! However, Hex managed to snag onto him in a field of mana that resembled a clear forcefield!

"Attempting to overshadow me, boy?" Hex asked. "Sorry to say, that will not work out for you."

Hex threw two magic circles from his staff that surrounded Danny, trapping him in almost electrical energy! It felt almost like being caught in his Specter Deflector, but keeping him in his ghost form, leaving him unable to fly out or fight back! "Just because you're dead," Hex said, "doesn't mean you're exempt from my retribution!"

Danny was now trapped, leaving Touka and Annabeth alone, the ghoul helping the blonde to stand after that attack she withstood. "What do you two think you can do to me?" he asked. "Your allies have been stomped thoroughly, your ghost now trapped and you're on the ropes, while I have barely broken a sweat. Face it, children, there is noone among you that can stop me."

The next moment, Moka dropped in from the skylight herself, having decided that now was as good a time as any, given that her allies were all dispatched with by this point! With the boys all down, she knew that Touka and Annabeth would not be able to properly fend off Hex themselves. She dropped down a downward, axe kick towards Hex, which he barely had time to block with his staff, still creating a gigantic shockwave that shook the very foundations of the mansion, even knocking Annabeth and Touka from their feet!

Hex rose up from the crater, having been able to deflect most of the force from that kick, as Moka stood in front of him, exercising her legs. "I don't know," she replied to him, "I think I know a girl."

"Vampire," Hex hissed.

"Vampire," Moka replied smugly. She rushed Hex once again, attempting another kick that Hex quickly dodged! He fired off bolts of magic from his staff that Moka effortlessly leapt over, before delivering a roundhouse kick that nearly sent Hex right back to the ground! Hex felt Touka's Kagune slash at his back, just as Annabeth attempted to stab him with her drakon bone sword!

Hex dodged her sword, grabbing onto her wrists and forcing her to drop it, before tossing her aside! She hit the wall on her back, gasping in pain before dropping to the ground in a slump! "Chase!" Touka said. "Are you okay?"

Annabeth coughed for a moment, nearly gagging from the pain she'd just experienced. "I hate today," she gasped.

"You two," Hex said, holding out his staff, "will have to step aside while I take care of the vampire." "No!" Moka shouted, trying to stop Hex, but it was in vain. Hex held out his free hand to create a forcefield around his body that Moka was forced to expend her energy on, as Hex fired off what looked like a cloud of red smoke that went right into Touka's face, despite her mask! She cried out for a moment, screaming in horror for several seconds, before her body slumped over.

"Touka?" Annabeth asked nervously, standing back up. The only response she got was a low, guttural growl from Touka, as she bent and twisted around, lumbering closer to Annabeth like a leering animal! "Oh shit," Annabeth said nervously.

Too late. Touka launched her Kagune at Annabeth, who just barely had time to dodge! She slashed her bronze knife at Touka as she lashed at her again, the two now locked in their own standoff!

"And with that," Hex said, "you're the only one I have to deal with now, vampiress."

Moka growled angrily, rushing Hex once again! However, a geyser of water suddenly burst from the ground that completely overtook her! Moka screamed a muffled scream within the water, as it all condensed together into a sphere that Hex held in front of him.

"The thing about you vampires," he said smugly, "is while you may be the strongest creatures in the Dark Realm, you also have the most weaknesses."

Humungousaur was pinned to the ground by one of the stone dragons, seeing his other friends in danger! Gritting his teeth, he increased his size enough to knock the dragon off of him, before he charged in their direction! He transformed into XLR8, shooting right into the sphere of water, catching Moka, and coming out the other side!

He ran up to the second floor of the library and gently put Moka down. "Moka," he said, "are you okay?"

"J-just… gimme a minute," Moka said, waving him off.

"What the heck was that?" XLR8 asked.

"Vampires… weak… water," Moka replied, rubbing her head.

"Seriously…?" XLR8 asked. "How the heck does that work?"

"Just… accept it," Moka said.

Hex suddenly floated up towards the second floor, holding out his staff! Ben reached for the Omnitrix emblem, only for a vine to wrap around his wrist, tossing him off the balcony, right into the waiting maw of the stone dragon! Moka shrieked in fear, before a vine wrapped around her wrist that burnt like fire!

She cried out in pain, as more vines wrapped around her body, which began to hiss and burn and blister! Hex smirked happily as he watched the flowers of roses, wolfsbane, and dogrose constrict her body! Moka moaned and cursed in pain, before she was slammed into a wall, suspending her in the air by the vines that began growing up the wall!

"Poor vampire," Hex laughed. "You're so outclassed. Now you and your friends will wait here before I'm ready to humour you." Hex floated back to the ground, where he opened up another magic circle and resumed the ritual that he had been performing before.

Annabeth saw this go down, barely able to dodge a swipe from Touka's hand! She kicked the ghoul right in the chin, before backing up in fear, grabbing her drakon sword in a roll! "Come on Touka!" she said. "You're stronger than some spell! You can fight this!"

Touka looked at Annabeth, her mask having been knocked off her face, causing the Half-Blood to shiver in fear at the look she was giving. Her eyes were still the same black and red, but black veins had formed all over her head, even parts of her neck, her tongue had turned a similar black, and drool that more resembled tar was leaking down her mouth, as the same inhuman growling and snarling came out of her!

"Uh…" Annabeth said, gripping her weapons in shaking hands, as the ghoul predatorily tiptoed around her. "I really don't suppose you'd want to talk this out?"

Touka released a cacophonic shriek as she ran towards Annabeth, Kagune ready to come down on top of her! However, Jake dropped in from above, pinning her down with the claws on his feet. "So… what'd I miss here?" he asked, gesturing to Touka.

Annabeth raised a brow, utterly baffled for a moment, before she looked to see that only one stone dragon was left, shaking its head violently! "Hex did something," Annabeth replied, rubbing her head, feeling exhausted. "Her mind has gone full predatory."

"So you could say…" Danny uttered from his trap. "Hex… _hexed _her?"

"Seriously Danny!?" Annabeth and Jake asked him.

"We all deal with stress differently!" Danny snapped back in turn. Annabeth rolled her eyes, looking out at her situation. Both Danny and Moka were trapped, Moka in particular being slowly poisoned by those flowers, Touka was totally gone in the frenzy that Hex had put her in, and Ben was…

Suddenly, the dragon that had eaten Ben had its head explode as Cannonbolt came rolling out of it, stopping beside the others. "So? How we doing?" he asked. "Did we get him?"

"Not remotely," Annabeth replied. "Ben, you free Moka from that trap. Jake, you go stop Hex. I'll handle Touka."

"Wait, are you sure?" Cannonbolt asked. "Why don't I fight Hex and Jake fight Touka? I mean, he's already standing on her."

"No," Annabeth replied. "Hex knows how to fight you, plus Moka needs to get out yesterday. Besides, I know how to handle Touka."

"Uh, what about me?" Danny asked weakly.

"We don't know how to get you out of there!" Annabeth replied. "Just hang tight until we stop Hex and you'll be fine."

"Speak for yourself!" Danny said.

The others complied, as Jake let go of Touka, while Ben transformed into Swampfire and leapt up to the second floor! Touka promptly writhed around like a wild beast, before she leapt at Annabeth like a wild dog, the Half-Blood sliding underneath the attack!

"Be careful Ann!" Danny yelled.

"I know what I'm doing," Annabeth said, but more to herself than to Danny. Touka stalked over to her once again, her Kagune blazing!

"Come on old girl," Annabeth said, reaching into her back pocket. "I know what you want. I know what'll calm you."

Annabeth ducked under another hail of Ukaku spikes, before throwing a sealed envelope at Touka's face! The ghoul was stunned only for a second, before she growled at Annabeth again. But then she stopped. She sniffed the air curiously, looking down at the envelope.

Her salivating became fierce as she knelt down at the envelope and shredded it apart, digging into the meat that lay within! She cawed and let loose a series of noises in delight, as Annabeth caught her breath. "That's it," she said. "Enjoy yourself. This'll all be over soon."

Swampfire leapt up to the balcony and ran over to Moka, who was still pinned to the wall, moaning in pain, her eyes crying from the pain! "Hang on Moka," Swampfire said. "I'll get you out of there."

"Wha… what're you tal… bout?" Moka uttered. "I… fine…"

"Just relax," Swampfire replied. "The mighty vampire will be saved in a moment." He held his hand out, emitting the gas that would allow him to control the plants.

For a moment, it seemed to work, as the plants began moving away from Moka's body, letting her slowly drop back to the ground. However, Swampfire suddenly found the plants wrap around his arms and begin stabbing his body! He shouted in pain, before getting pushed towards the opposite side of the building, pinned against a wall! Moka let her head slump back over, gritting her teeth and baring her fangs.

She forced herself to a standing position, tugging and pulling against the flowers! Her body sparked and shook with red yoki, the mana of monsters, as her body appeared to pale and her hair turned purely silver! Her eyes were scrunched shut, as she continued to growl and tug!

Hex opened one eye as his ritual was continuing, pointing his staff right at Jake as he tried to attack, blocking him with a force shield! "Did you think it would be that easy?" the sorcerer asked.

"Well I was hoping," Jake replied, dropping to the ground and getting into a fighting stance. "What kinda juju you cooking up here, witch doctor?"

"Something you couldn't begin to understand," Hex said, before adding, "salamander."

"Salamander!?" Jake asked. "Dawg, why does everybody call me that!? I'm a dragon! And yall're gonna show some respect!"

Hex merely raised an eyebrow, before sending a bolt from his staff that created pillars of stone that constricted Jake's body! "Just watch, hatchling," he said, "as I finish my work."

Hex held out a hand, revealing that he had cut his palm, dripping blood onto the circle, that caused it to flare in fury! Jake forced against the rocks holding him, breaking out one bit at a time, before a noise caught his attention! He looked up to see Swampfire pushed to the opposite wall by the plants!

"What the heck was that!?" he asked.

"That would be Tennyson," Hex replied, "attempting to free the vampire. A foolish choice, no doubt."

"But… it was just flowers," Jake replied.

"It's magic," Hex replied. "I don't have to explain it."

Jake snarled angrily, freeing himself from the rock prison, before delivering a claw into Hex's back! But same as before, Hex dodged the strike, before wrapping Jake's neck with his staff in a headlock! Jake growled angrily as Hex held the staff against his neck!

"You're already too late, boy," he said. "The ritual is done. It's coming."

"What's coming?" Jake asked.

Suddenly, a green glow burst from the ground, as a large, jade crystal emerged from the ground. "What in the-?" Jake asked, before Hex tossed him aside. The sorcerer walked over to the crystal, but Jake shot a blast of fire that knocked him from his feet!

"Oh no you don't!" Jake said. "I dunno what you want with that thing, but it ain't good, so you ain't getting it!"

"You're a fool," Hex replied, grabbing his staff and getting to his feet. "You have no idea what you're tampering with. And do you really think you can handle me?"

Just then, the very foundation of the building shook once again, as a loud roar echoed in everyone's skulls! A burst of red glowed from the upper floor, before a shape that emanated the glow flew off and struck the ground with a 'thoom!' From the crater, Moka strode forward, eyes still shut. Her skin was stained with the marks left behind from the vines that had agitated her flesh. Her eyes opened, now shone to be glowing bright red.

"Ah," Hex said. "So you've broken from my trap? I must say, I'm impressed. Even if it wasn't unbreakable, such a young vampire managing to free herself is an impressive feat."

"That was because," Moka said, "I was holding back… because I wanted to go easy on you! But now… now you've made me mad!"

"Ah no," Jake said, stepping aside.

Moka saw this and took it as her cue! She launched herself forward, appearing right before Hex in a flash of motion! Just as Hex rose his staff, Moka delivered an upward axe kick that sent the staff flying, while also catching Hex's chin and sending him right into the air!

Moka leapt after him, delivering another kick that dug her heel into Hex's sid, before another that slammed against his cheek, and another that nailed him in the belly, spinning around in rapid succession, before delivering a kick that hit him in the head and sent him to the ground! Each hit that Hex had felt as if a truck was hitting him, even connecting with the ground feeling dwarfed by comparison! Moka dove back towards him, bringing down her feet on his chest!

She picked him up by his neck, fangs bared as she clearly was ready to bite him! She roared again as she reared her head back! "Moka!" Ben's voice shouted.

Moka slowly turned to look at him, as Ben was standing behind her back in his human form. "He's down," he said. Moka turned back to Hex, before dropping him on the floor.

Hex lay on the ground in a heap, as Moka dusted herself off. Danny was freed from his trap the next moment, as Touka suddenly snapped to her senses in turn. All of Hex's magic no longer active.

"A...Annabeth?" she asked. "What… what was I-?" To her surprise, Touka found herself caught in a hug, Annabeth resting her head against her chest. "It's okay," Annabeth said. "It's over… you're fine." Touka was confused, but from the way Annabeth was trembling she had a feeling that the embrace was more for her benefit than for Touka's. So, instead of arguing, she merely allowed her head to rest in Ananbeth's chest.

Ben stepped over to Moka, putting a hand to her shoulder. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Moka replied. "Just… really… tired." She stumbled on her feet, the pink streaks in her hair starting to spread, before she found herself collapsing backwards. Ben quickly caught her, allowing her head to rest on her shoulders. Moka was still conscious, smiling up at Ben with those fangs of hers gleaming bright.

"You're such a hero," she said. "Catching a girl while she falls? But just know, Tennyson, that I'm no damsel. I just need a crutch at the moment."

"Sure thing," Ben replied. "Whatever you say, Ms. Shuzen."

Danny and Jake stepped towards the crystal that had emerged from the ground. "This thing's giving off some mad juice," Jake replied. "Whatever it is, I think it's a good thing we kept Hex from getting it." "Let's take it back with us," Ben said. "Put it somewhere safe."

"You… fools-!" Hex uttered, managing to push himself up. The group turned towards him, but saw that he was in no condition to continue fighting and was moments away from slipping unconscious. "You… you have no idea what you're doing…! You've jeopardized everything!"

"Yeah," Ben said. "Well, that's what happens when you don't explain yourself."

* * *

_**A/N: Boy! That one was a rush to get through!**_

_**So, I had initially had the deep moment between the girls's backstory in the last chapter, but I cut it for time to put at the start of this one to help balance things out. Plus, I just found the idea of cutting the last chapter off before the story is revealed would flow better narratively.**_

_**I actually went back over the story between the girls several times to make it feel the best. I had to rethink several choices here and there to make the reactions of the girls feel more natural. Like with Touka, I had to give her a good enough reason to kill the Huntsclan members, but also show that she isn't just a unrepentant murderer either. And I also had to make it clear that Annabeth didn't approve, but Moka was a bit more lenient.**_

_**So I then added the part between Touka and Moka personally, to give more of a reason for why Moka and Touka were so angered at each other, so that way their actions upon meeting back up with each other a few parts ago made more sense.**_

_**But of course, a big part came in with how Ben recalled his experience with Ultimate Kevin. A pretty natural recollection for a story like this, but one that I felt was more than appropriate. Naturally Touka hadn't gone cuckoo, (yet anyway,) but the analogy between giving up on a friend I felt was natural.**_

_**The fight with Hex was something that I really had a lot of fun with too. Utilizing each character's individual abilities and showing how Hex could react to them was really enjoyable. I particularly had fun in showing how he used Moka's different weaknesses against her, but still showing he was not impervious to harm either. He just happened to know the best way to counter the different Dark Realm inhabitants.**_

_**So is that the end? Is the fight over? Well, I'll let you figure that out, next time. So until then, thank you so much for reading, have a wonderful evening, and take care!**_


	5. Pathos: Part 5

**The Ones Who Bump Back:**

Pathos.

Pt. 5.

* * *

**Chapter Five: The Calm Before.**

Upon returning to once more to Anteiku, (Ben addressing it as their unofficial headquarters by this point,) the group was looking over the quarry they had obtained, now joined by Hinami, who was utterly baffled by what she saw. "So…" she said. "You all decided to bring this Hex guy here because…?"

Sure enough, the team had restrained Hex and we're keeping him in the cafe's closet where they kept the ingredients for the coffee, as they tried to figure out what to do with him. The gem they had also obtained from him was naturally kept far out of reach of the beaten sorcerer, laying right in the dining area of the cafe so as not to risk him using it against them. "I'll admit," Danny said, "this does seem like a big jump from point A to point B."

"Well," Ben replied, "we couldn't afford to leave him unattended in the hopes that the authorities would get there in time to take him away, plus in the event he had any traps in that house of his that he could activate by wiggling his tongue, we didn't want to risk staying there. The best option we could think of was bringing him here, so this Chaon guy Annabeth mentioned can bring him to the authorities in the Dark Realm."

"His name is Chiron," Danny said.

"Whatever," Ben shrugged.

The boys left Hex, still unconscious, as they went back to the center of the cafe. Both Moka and Annabeth were sitting at the bar, Moka resting as best as she could. Her hair was still totally pink, but beyond that, Ben felt she just gave off a different aura about herself.

Her features were not that different, save for her face appearing a bit rounder, her eyes were larger, and inversely her chest wasn't as large. But aside from these things, she overall just seemed cuter and less sinister. "How you doing?" Ben asked.

Moka looked at him, showing off another major difference. Her eyes were gray, but a more dull gray as opposed to Annabeth's stormy gray. She smiled at Ben, replying with a nod.

"Yes, I am Ben," she replied, her voice a fair bit higher pitched than her normal tone. "Thank you for your concern. I just need a bit more rest."

"No problem," Ben replied, giving a nod.

"How's Touka?" Danny asked. Annabeth looked at them, before giving a defeated sigh. "She's still resting," she said. "I'll check on her."

She stood up and made her way over to Touka's room. As she did, the guys sat back down at the counter and began pulling out snacks to eat so as to satiate their hunger, with all eyes on the green crystal sitting in the middle. "So," Danny said, "can I be the first to ask just what that thing is?"

"It's called a Philosopher's Stone," Moka replied.

"Philosopher's Stone?" Ben asked. "What's that?"

"More impressive than it sounds, for one thing," Moka replied. "A Philosopher's Stone is said to deliver incredible magical power to anybody that can manage to siphon the energy from it. If a novice magic user uses it, they can become as powerful as the most skilled sorcerer."

"And if a _skilled _magic user uses it?" Jake asked.

"They can become a god," Moka replied.

"How much juice are we talking here?" Danny asked. "Like, how much magic does that thing contain?"

"Well," Moka replied, looking around the counter. Finally, she picked up the twinkie that Jake had pulled out for a snack. "Let's say this twinkie is the normal amount of magical energy that a common magic possesses in their body."

"Yeah?" Ben prompted.

"According to most accounts," Moka replied, "the magical energy when fueled with a Philosopher's Stone would create a twinkie approximately three-hundred and thirty-three meters long and weighing about ninety-two thousand metric tons."

Danny choked on his coffee upon hearing that, coughing and struggling for breath! "That's a big twinkie," Jake said, eyes wide with admiration and fear. Moka smirked, before snapping the twinkie in half with her fangs.

Ben scootched back on his chair, before leaning his back against the counter. "So what say you, Moka?" he asked. "How do we go about this?"

"I'll make some calls," Moka replied, "and see if we can get this thing somewhere safe. I can't personally deliver it to any officials, but so long as I can get it to a citizen magic user, it should be fine from there."

"Why can't you handle it?" Danny asked.

"While my father has power," Moka replied, "most magic users tend to stay apart from most others in the Dark Realm. Mostly due to being seen as second-class citizens due to being the closest bridge between human and monster."

"Fairy enough," Ben shrugged.

Back with Annabeth, she finished making her way over to Touka's room, opening the door without hesitation. She walked inside, seeing Touka sitting in front of her balcony's door, a wistful expression on her face. Annabeth stepped over and looked at her with a curious face. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," Touka replied after a moment.

"You okay?" Annabeth asked. "You know… after… what happened back at Hex's house."

"More or less," Touka replied. "How about you?"

"I've been worse," Annabeth replied. "Glad you're back to normal."

"Glad to be back," Touka said.

"How much do you remember?" Annabeth asked.

"Not much," Touka replied. "Just… hunger."

"What're you talking about?" Hinami asked. The girls turned, seeing that she had followed Annabeth to Touka's room. She stepped over to the two of them, a hint of concern in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it Hinami," Touka said, sitting up and putting a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Why don't you go talk to Danny or Jake? Annabeth and I have to talk about something serious."

"Why can't I listen?" Hinami asked.

"Because this is for adults," Touka replied.

"I'm an adult!" Hinami said stubbornly.

"Sure you are," Touka smirked, patting Hinami on the head. The younger girl scoffed angrily as she stomped away.

"As much as I don't want to," Annabeth said, bringing things to attention once more, "I have to ask, how did you turn so quickly? Hex's spell shouldn't have affected you that fast. As harsh as it is to say, you should have been able to fight back harder."

Touka aimed her gaze at the ground. Seeing she wasn't going to reply, Annabeth took a breath. "It's part of what happened earlier," she said, "isn't it? I was right before; you aren't eating properly."

"Why? Why haven't you been eating properly, Touka?" Touka remained quiet, her face making it clear that she was unable to respond. However, she managed to find her words as she looks up at Annabeth. "Maybe," she said, "I'm ashamed."

"I'm ashamed because of what happened before. What caused us to split up. Me killing those guys from the Huntsclan. The fact that it was what caused us to split up… I just couldn't live with myself after that."

"Touka," Annabeth said, "you can't just go starving yourself after that."

"What else did you want me to do!?" Touka asked, standing up to face Annabeth. "I couldn't accept that I had managed to sacrifice two of the only friends that I had! Two of the only people that knew what I was and were able to accept me for it!"

"I know," Annabeth said. "I know. And…And… And I'm… _sorry_!" she uttered. "I'm sorry that I never bothered trying to talk with you! I'm sorry that I totally cut you off! I'm sorry that I vilified you!"

"It was wrong of me to not give you the benefit of the doubt. While I standby that it wasn't right of you to rip those guys apart like you did, it was also wrong of me to give up on you the way I did. It was wrong. _I _was wrong."

Touka aimed her eyes at the floor once again. "And…" Touka said. "I can also understand why you were so upset. I know why you were, but I just didn't want to admit it."

"I suppose the reason why is because, I tried making the excuse that was natural for a ghoul like me. That what you saw was who I really am." "But it wasn't you," Annabeth said.

"Of course I know that," Touka said. "I can't stand the idea of killing somebody that has a family and a life out there! But I just… I have been so alone! Like I said, you two are the only ones I know that accepted me as a ghoul and have been my true friends. I just… I was just so scared to lose you and Moka."

"I know Touka," Annabeth replied. "But haven't you been told by somebody that 'you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anybody else'?"

Touka raised an eyebrow, before a stoic mien overtook her face. "You got talking with Hinami, haven't you?" she asked.

"Of course," Annabeth replied. "That girl is too adorable to ignore."

Touka sighed. Annabeth gave a quick laugh, before she put a hand to her shoulder. "How about," she said, "we agree to give… this, whatever you and I and Moka have here, another chance? And promise to have each other's backs, without having to butcher anybody."

Touka's body tensed up, her eyes wide as she looked at both Moka and Annabeth with a startled expression, before she slowly nodded her head. "I'd like that," she said with a nod. "I'd like that very much."

Annabeth pulled Touka in for a hug, rubbing her back as they were held close. Nearby, Danny and Jake were holding hands close as they looked at the three girls embracing. "It's a kodak moment," Danny said with mock sadness.

Touka freed herself from Annabeth's arms to look at the snickering boys, before growling with anger! "I will kill you!" she shouted, proceeding to chase after the dragon and ghost as they ran from her in fear! Ben casually looked at them run away as he sipped his coffee, Hinami and Moka standing right beside him. Clearly, everyone present had been eavesdropping on them.

Annabeth shook her head as she watched them run away. "Annabeth?" Moka asked. Annabeth looked at her curiously, as the vampire continued.

"I was wondering," she said, "where did you get that meat to calm down Touka before she was freed from Hex's spell?"

Annabeth's face reddened as she found herself unable to meet Moka's look. "Yeah," Ben agreed, "I was wondering the same thing. I mean, while I wasn't paying attention to much of your fight, I did find that meat around her when we were cleaning up. Where did you have that? And, you know, why, considering what it must have been?"

Annabeth took a breath, before looking at them. "Sometimes, when I came to the cafe, I grabbed some meat and would prepare something for Touka. Something like a pork chop or grilled steak type of thing, except... one she could eat."

"So you mean," Ben asked, "you were preparing-?"

"Don't pretend like it wasn't weird for me!" Annabeth said. "Because it was! It was weird and disgusting and I wanted to puke! But I was doing something for a friend. I wanted to give her something like what we have."

"So, while we were resting after the hospital thing, I was just making something for her. I mean, it was out of habit really. I didn't even realize what I was doing until I was already doing it."

"Good thing you did," Ben said, peeking over his shoulder to see Touka having caught Danny and Jake in headlocks! "Or else it would've been a lot harder to keep her at bay until Hex was stopped."

"I know," Annabeth said. "I guess, in my heart, I still wanted to help her out when I suspected she wasn't eating right. To be there for her, but I just didn't know how to settle it."

"And for that," Moka said, "I think we owe Ben a big 'thank you'."

Ben's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh," he said, "you don't have to thank me. It was all you who had to settle it. It was your emotions and your feelings."

"True," Annabeth said, "but we would've never settled it if you hadn't nudged us in the right direction. So, thank you. You really are like the hero I heard you were."

Ben smiled. "Thanks," he said.

"I think we all," Moka said, "need to get some rest."

"That's right," Annabeth said. "We'll get this Philosopher's Stone to a safe place soon, but until then, let's go to bed."

"Hey Touka!" Ben yelled. "Is it alright if we crash here tonight?"

"I don't see why not," Touka replied, still giving Danny and Jake an earful.

"Alright then," Ben said, "why don't you all get some rest while I wait to make sure that Hex gets outta here."

"I'll stay too," Annabeth said. "Chiron will want to talk to me about all this."

"Alrighty," Danny said. "See you all later."

"Sleep well," Moka added.

* * *

Later that evening, Ben and Annabeth were sitting at the counter doing whatever they could to keep themselves awake. As the others went to sleep, the Philosopher's Stone was relocated to the top floor to be kept out of the way, while Ben and Annabeth awaited for Chiron to arrive and take Hex away. Annabeth was typing on her laptop while Ben was just sitting next to her, bored out of his skull. His head was leaning against his hand, nearly falling over as he struggled to keep himself awake.

"Why don't you get some rest?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Ben replied. "I gotta make sure Hex is taken care of. Speaking of which, one of us should go check up on him, huh?"

"I'll do it," Annabeth said. "You at least think about getting rest."

"Don't tell me how to live my life," Ben replied snarkily. Annabeth shook her head as she got back up from the counter and walked over to the store room to check up on Hex. As she left, Ben saw the door to the upper level open, as Moka came out, no longer wearing her coat.

"Hey Moka," Ben said. "You have trouble sleeping too?"

Moka gave a nod as she got herself something to drink. "Yeah," she said. "I've had a long day."

"Same here," Ben replied. The two were silent for a moment, merely allowing the calm night atmosphere to settle around them as Moka casually leaned back and got her drink stirred. "Say," she said, "there's something I've been wondering. Where did you get that watch?"

"This thing?" Ben asked. "Well, it's technically the third one I've had. I found the first one, called the Omnitrix, when I was only ten years old, finding it after it crashed down during my summer vacation. It latched onto my wrist, and ever since, I found myself fighting evil with it."

"I see," Moka replied, egging him to go on.

"For awhile," Ben said, "I gave up on the hero thing and put aside my watch. But when I was fifteen, I got back in the game, put back on the Omnitrix, and have been at it ever since. About a year later, I had to destroy it, and it was replaced by a new model called the 'Ultimatrix' that gave me the ability to transform into evolved forms of my aliens. Then almost a year after that, I got a new Omnitrix from the watches' creator, Azmuth, and this is that model."

"I see," Moka said, looking at the watch curiously. "Can I try it out?"

"Sorry," Ben replied, shaking his head. "It's tied into my dna. Only I can use it unless I purposefully disengage it."

"Fair enough," Moka said. "Even still, I can transform too."

"Really?" Ben asked. "Like, into a bat?"

"Well sure," Moka replied, "but with practice, some vampires can shapeshift into other creatures, not just bats."

"Huh," Ben said. "I did not know that."

Moka smiled. "Not many do," she said. "Humans tend to not understand a lot of things about vampires. For example, did you know I can survive in the daylight too?"

"Really?" Ben asked. "Like, you don't blow up or turn to dust?"

"Nope," Moka replied.

"Seriously?" Ben said.

"That's right," Moka replied.

"Please don't tell me you sparkle," Ben said.

"Make a reference to that again," Moka said grimly, "and I might have to bite you."

"So," Ben said, ignoring her prior statement, "what do humans know about vampires that's… real? You know, aside from the blood thing?"

"Well," Moka replied, "you do have the garlic thing, but there are more plants that can hurt us, like you saw during the fight. You also have the staking thing, but specifically with certain types of wood. Decapitation has been said to be effective, but I've heard inconsistent remarks on if it really kills or just deters us. Some metal like iron or silver can also hurt, and you saw that water can hurt us too."

"Boy," Ben said, "no offense, but you have a lot of weaknesses."

"Sure," Moka replied, "but I guess it's only fair. We are the strongest creatures in the Dark Realm-" She suddenly tensed up tightly! Hard enough, in fact, to break the glass she was holding!

"What?" Ben asked. Moka did not reply, as her eyes began tracing everywhere. "What?" Ben asked again.

Moka looked like an agitated animal, fangs bared. "We're not alone," she said.

* * *

A few moments prior, as Annabeth entered the store room, she walked to the very back in order to see Hex still contained in his trap. However, she heard him saying something under his breath. "What are you up to?" she asked.

"You shouldn't have stopped what I was doing," Hex said.

"Oh really?" Annabeth asked. "And, pray tell, why was that? You honestly think that we should just trust you with a Philosopher's Stone after all you've already done?"

"I had no intention of keeping that Philosopher's Stone," Hex replied.

Annabeth was taken aback. "What?" she asked.

"I had no intention of keep-" Hex began, before Annabeth cut him off. "I heard you the first time," Annabeth said. "I mean, why didn't you?"

"Tell me, girl," Hex replied, "you assumed that I was responsible for the recent mana incidences, correct? Where people have had their mana infected by some dark force?"

Annabeth was silent. She knew where Hex was going with this, but nodded in reply. Sure enough, his next sentence confirmed her suspicions.

"I was not responsible," Hex replied. "But I summoned the Philosopher's Stone in order to keep it out of the hands of the one who was truly responsible."

Annabeth felt like slamming her head against a wall. She and the others had targeted the wrong guy. And as much as she dreaded asking it because she knew how much time that they had been wasting by dealing with Hex, she knew she had to ask him the truth.

"So… who is responsible?" she asked.

However, before Hex could reply, there was a strange noise heard just outside the room. A scuttling noise almost akin to some creature crawling around nearby. Like something was scuttling to and fro along the walls, and the ceiling.

Annabeth listened closely, as she reached for the dagger she had in the back of her pants. That is, until a force broke through the wall directly behind her and wrapped around her neck! Annabeth coughed and gagged as she aimed her dagger at the hand which had grabbed her!

Annabeth spun back around, only for two more arms to break through the floor and grabbed her legs! Annabeth gaped for a moment, before she was pulled straight through the floor! Screaming.

* * *

Back upstairs, Danny was awoken by a foul smell that caused him to gag! "Oh man," he said. "What is it today with the awful smells?"

He was laying in the middle of Touka's living room, makeshift bedding having been designed for himself, Moka, and Jake as they lay on the floor. He delivered a kick toward Jake, who he'd presumed was the cause of the smell! The dragon groaned in pain as Danny had kicked him, sitting up in annoyance!

"Yo, what was that for?" he demanded.

"You got dragon breath or what?" Danny asked. "Quit stinking things up!"

Before Jake could respond, a scuttling noise was heard around the walls. The two looked around curiously, wondering just where that noise had come from. Only for it to persist, more scurrying, crawling sounds getting their attention.

They both stood up and looked around for the source. "Uh…" Danny said. "What is that?"

"I have no idea," Jake replied simply.

Touka swung open her bedroom door next, stepping out and walking over to the two with a fierce resolve. "Uh, Touka?" Danny asked. "Do you-?"

"I know," Touka replied. "I can smell them. Something's here."

"What?" Jake asked.

"Something… inhuman," Touka replied. "I can't quite pinpoint it. It smells human, but there's something not right about it."

"What do you think it is?" Danny asked.

"If it was Hex's doing," Touka replied, "I'm sure Ben or Annabeth would've warned us. I have a feeling something else is responsible for this."

The next moment, there was a sound that struck the sliding glass door that lead to the balcony! They all turned, seeing a hand had smacked against the glass, before sliding across to the right side, dragging a trail of black behind it! The hand vanished and more scurrying was heard!

The three were all wide-eyed and somewhat horrified by what they had just seen. "Okay," Jake said, "I don't know where Moka went, but I'd really like it if we had our vampire back!"

"Let's get downstairs," Touka said. "The others need to know about this!"

"And by that," Danny said, "she means she wants the safety of the vampire too!"

They all ran for the door, only for a hand to shove its way right through it, reaching and clawing for them angrily! A snarling, growling noise was heard on the other side, causing the three to step back! The glass suffered next, another figure having returned to the door and began busting through!

Danny and Jake transformed, as Touka pulled out her Ukaku Kagune! "No," she said. "Not in my house. Literally, in my house!"

She sent out a wave of blades that knocked the creature back before they could even see what it was! She turned back to the front door, and knocked it off its hinges in an attempt to stab the creature on the other side! "Out! Now!" Touka ordered.

Before the boys could comply, Jake was grabbed by a creature! He yelped in surprise as he was thrown off his feet, rolling right off the balcony and heading to the ground! Danny and Touka looked, finding the creature was a hunched over, humanoid shape! But to their horror, they soon recognized what the creature was, as more began crawling in from the balcony, on the walls, or the ceiling!

It was one of the patients from the hospital! One of the humans, who was now even more zombified looking as they roared and snarled at them! Black tar was leaking from their mouth or eyes or even the pores in their skin as it continued growling like a wild beast!

The same condition was even visible on all the others as well!

"T-Touka?" Danny asked.

"I know," Touka replied. "I know Danny." She hardened her Kagune, and used it as a battering ram as she lead the way out of the balcony and jumped off, Danny grabbing her hand and flying away! Jake had recovered as well, and began flying alongside them, out of reach of the zombies!

"So," Jake said, "guessing that Hex… didn't do this?"

"I think so," Danny replied. "Ergo, we screwed up."

* * *

Back at the cafe itself, Ben and Moka both jumped to the ceiling as the front door was blown off its hinges! Much like what the others had experienced just a moment ago, zombie looking patients from the hospital crawled in from the ceiling or floor like animals! Ben hastily transformed into Four Arms just as a group of zombies dogpiled him! Moka instinctively reared back a kick and positively punted one zombie hard enough to knock down a dozen more like bowling pins! Despite those zombies clearly out of commission, there were just as many that took their place!

"Guys!" Annabeth yelled, exiting the store room, looking disheveled and with a fierce cut on her forehead! "We messed up! Hex isn't-! Oh my gods!"

She excited just in time to see Four Arms break free from the pile of zombies and begin tossing or punching them all aside! He knew that he couldn't try hard enough to hurt them, but he also didn't know what else to do considering that something foul was clearly possessing them! So, he decided that his best option at the moment was going ham on the victims turned monsters!

Just as one leapt at him like a wild cat, Annabeth dropkicked it aside and proceeded to follow up by slamming her sword in the side of another's head with the flat edge of the blade! "I don't suppose," Annabeth said, "either of you happen to know where these things came from?"

"Not a clue," Moka replied, appearing to be stuck in a loop, beating down dozens of zombies only to have just as many come at her next!

"We need a way to find just where they came from!" Four Arms said. "Figure out who, or what, is controlling them!"

"Great plan," Annabeth said, having the hardest time keeping zombies at bay! "But how do we do that?"

Four Arms did not reply, merely continuing to knock aside zombies! He knew that by transforming into somebody like Big Chill or Ghostfreak he could easily phase around the zombies and get away. But that would mean leaving Annabeth and Moka behind. And he refused to do that.

While he didn't doubt their power, he knew that they were in a very difficult situation. They were forcing back antide of zombies that were circling the building like sharks and sounding like they were crawling along the walls or ceiling, not to mention that for every zombie they knocked down , they just got right back up after two minutes. Not to mention that while Moka was nearly as powerful as he was, she was still recovering from the battle with Hex, and Annabeth on the other hand, while strong by human standards, did not have any special abilities to aid her in a fight like the others did. If Ben risked leaving them behind, they would have a much harder time fighting off these monsters.

For now, he had to worry about protecting the Philosopher's Stone and ensuring his friends were unharmed and just hope that the others were figuring out the situation and could find a way to bring assistance.

* * *

Touka was really hating this day. First, she got roped into an investigation by somebody she had cut ties with. Second, she got into a three-way argument with _both _the people she cut ties with. Third, she was turned into a ravenous monster by some asshole sorcerer.

At least she was able to make amends with both Annabeth and Moka, but now she had an even worse situation going on with how she ended up being attacked by psychotic zombies that chased her out of her own home! Not to mention now she ended up being knocked out of the air by another zombie! Yeah, as Danny was hovering in midair with Touka hanging by his arms, one of the zombies that they spotted crawling along the walls of Anteiku leapt over and slammed into them!

Danny fell from the air, clutching hard onto Touka's arms to ensure he didn't drop her! Unfortunately, this left him unable to turn intangible, as the zombie tossed him right into the windows to the top floor of the building! Danny was the first to recover as Touka merely continued wallowing in her own pain, his green eyes falling upon the Philosopher's Stone that they had kept in there.

"Well," Danny said, "how convenient that we end up with this thing. Doesn't take a genius to figure out these things are after the stone, right?"

"Sure enough," Touka said, still laying on her back. "And I have a feeling that thing threw us in here on purpose."

Jake's screaming voice was heard next, the two sitting straight up in time to see him fly right through the broken window, slamming against the wall on the opposite end of the room, totally covered in zombies! The Philosopher's Stone was knocked over by their flight too. Upon the American Dragon getting blown from the air, more zombies crawled in next!

"Danny!" Touka said, getting to her feet and summoning the Ukaku! "Help Jake and get out of here! Get the Philosopher's Stone to safety! And get Hinami up and out of here too!"

"But-!" Jake said, but Touka socked him in the gut! "I am not arguing with you!" Touka said. "Get out of here! Now!"

Touka proceeded to rush forward, slamming the electrical flame of her Kagune against the different zombies, creating almost a wall of flames that cut them off from moving further inside! Danny was hesitant at first, but complied with her orders and went to help Jake!

The American Dragon was practically being pinned to the floor by clawing and bitings from the zombies, black goo leaking all over him! Danny fired off beams from his fingers that knocked each zombie off its feet, before he grabbed Jake by a wing and threw him out the door!

"Danny! What're you-!?" Jake said, before Danny cut him off. "We have to go!" he said, now carrying the Philosopher's Stone over his shoulder. "She said we have to go get this and Hinami out of here! So we do!"

"But what about her?" Jake asked. Danny shoved the Philosopher's Stone into Jake's chest! "You get them out," Danny said. "I'll help her. I'm not leaving her behind."

"But, are you sure?" Jake asked.

"I am," Danny replied. "We'll be right behind you."

Jake nodded, running as fast as his legs could carry him, as Danny went back into the store room! Touka was still fighting off as many zombies as she could, but one or two was still able to cut through and punch her hard enough to nearly break her limbs! Beams of Ecto-Energy shot out and knocked over more zombies, as Danny forced his way back inside!

"Danny!" Touka roared. "I told you to-!" Danny forced a hand over her mouth, freezing it shut with ice, as he pushed her back and proceeded to create a massive wall of ice, trapping the zombies inside! "You're welcome," Danny replied, grabbing Touka's wrist and running out with her, just as the ice began cracking and breaking.

* * *

Back downstairs, Ben was not having as much luck. The storm of zombies proved to be too much for him and the girls to handle! The increased strength of the patients turned zombies was too much for Ben to handle, even as Four Arms, up against such incredible odds! However, there was something even worse about it.

"Are we… having… fun yet?" Moka asked, knocking down more zombies! In her current state, still recovering from her previous battle, she was seriously running low on energy!

"Are you kidding?" Annabeth asked, not faring much better! "I'm having the time of my life!"

"Just let me get room!" Four Arms said. He shoved off a row of zombies, as he reached for the Omnitrix logo on his chest! Unfortunately, zombies pounced on him the moment he tried, grabbing his wrist and holding it back! It was almost as if they knew that what he was trying to do!

Four Arms continued trying to move the zombies off of him so he could transform, but the patients continued holding him back! Moka tried to run in for help, only for several zombies to hold her back! Annabeth tried to help out herself, but the zombies grabbed her own arms and caused her to drop her weapons!

As the trio continued to struggle, suddenly, a wave of blackness overtook the entire room! The three felt what energy they had get totally drained out of their bodies! The three fell to their knees as they nearly fell unconscious from their energy being sapped away!

By the time the process was done, they looked up to see a dark figure make their way in from the front door, the zombies moving away to let them go. The figure was wearing a cloak over their body, only aspects of them being shown, including metal gauntlets and boots, over a dark blue and black uniform.

"Well, well, well, Benjy," the figure said in a silky voice, with a slight metallic edge to it. "It appears that you've done a great deal of work for me. And look at you, you even made a few new little friends from it too."

Ben felt his heart rate increase, able to recognize the figure's voice. But as they got closer, he could also see a familiar helmet being hidden beneath the hood of the cloak. "Michael?" he asked.

"No, Benjy," he replied. "How many times must I tell you? I am what you made me. I am Darkstar."

"How…?" Four Arms asked. "You're the one who caused all this?"

"Of course," Darkstar replied. "I mean, mana victims? Isn't it blatantly obvious, Benjy? In fact, I'm just the slightest bit offended that you didn't figure this out sooner."

"But how?" Four Arms asked. "You've never been capable of doing something like this before. You've never been able to control people."

"Ah, Benjy," Darkstar said, removing his cape, "you don't know it, but I have this." Sure enough, underneath his cloak, clipped to his collar, was the familiar red token that was the Keystone of Bezel.

"The Keystone," he said, "which amplified my powers tenfold. But at the price of my hunger becoming positively insatiable. Even if I totally absorbed the mana of thousands, I may not be satiated. That's why I confronted Hex with the desire to steal a Philosopher's Stone, so I could absorb the power from it."

"I had hoped with our common history when it comes to that heinous woman, Charmcaster, he might show me how to find one with the promise of vengeance on her. He failed, obviously. It appears that even with her treachery, he is still weakened by his 'love' for her. So I had you take it for me."

"You knew, then," Annabeth said. "You knew that we would go after him, thinking he was the one responsible. I must admit, I'm impressed you knew we would do that."

"Of course," Darkstar replied. "I knew that one way or another, Benjy would discover that I had taken the Keystone from his cousin and would just presume that the old man was the one who took it, considering he was the last one who tried to use it."

"But how?" Four Arms asked. "How did you get the Keystone? I thought that Gwen had it!"

"Well that's the thing," Darkstar said. "You know how I could once hypnotize simple girls. But while I can not naturally do so in my… current condition, I still had the means to whip up a charm. A bit of incubus blood and a little sob story for good measure, and your lovely cousin was practically putty in my hands."

"You sick motherf-!" Ben began to yell, before Darkstar merely absorbed more energy from him, causing him to transform back into human form after losing enough power!

"Let him go!" Moka said desperately. "Leave him alone!"

Darkstar looked at her curiously, a slight tilt in his head. "Ah," he said, kneeling down in front of her and looking at her with fondness. "Vampires, such mongrel creatures that manage to convey such natural beauty."

"Better to be a mongrel than a troglodyte!" Moka said, spitting on his helmet! Darkstar was unaffected, as he merely stood back up and wiped the spit off his helmet.

"All the same," he said, "I thank you for your work. Hex knew the risks involved in leaving me unchecked, and knew I would find the means to seize the Philosopher's Stone. So I merely just waited until he grabbed it for me, and just sat back and watched you take it from him."

On cue, a few zombies dragged Hex from the store room and dropped him off at Darkstar's feet, where the older sorcerer looked up in disgust at the figure looming over him. "I don't appreciate being manipulated, Morningstar," Hex said.

"You brought this on yourself, old man," Darkstar said. "You could have fought beside me, but now you shall merely be crushed under my heel."

He held a hand out to Hex, causing the man to convulse in pain against his bonds, before he dropped unconscious! Darkstar held up a crackling fist, chuckling to himself. "Now with all the pieces in place, I shall absorb the power of the stone next, and become all-powerful!"

"And that's all I needed to hear!" a new voice said. Darkstar looked curiously around for a second, before Danny appeared out of the ground, uppercutting him straight to the ceiling!

Touka came rushing in next, batting down as many zombies as she could! She reached the hostages and freed them in seconds! "Thanks guys!" Ben said. "But how did you know we were in trouble?"

"You're not the only ones who were attacked," Touka replied.

"We got a similar hit upstairs," Danny replied, continuing to grapple with Darkstar. "A bunch of these guys were crawling around outside! We managed to shake them off, while Jake took Hinami and the Philosopher's Stone to safety."

"Then that means," Ben added, "we just gotta take down these guys fast as we can!"

Back with Danny, he was continuing to slug Darkstar across the room before he had him pinned up against the wall! "Jeez," Danny said, "you're really not as impressive as I was hoping dude. Maybe we should rename you from 'Darkstar' to 'Dumbstar'."

Danny fired off an energy beam to Darkstar, only for the villain to hold up a hand and absorb it instantaneously! Danny was taken aback, before he was nailed in the chest by an attack that drained his energy! He fell to his knees, feeling like half his battery had been drained in just that one hit!

"You talk as much as Ben," Dartkstar said, standing upright. "And you're equally as arrogant. No wonder you're working together."

He fired more energy at Danny, blasting the ghost boy backwards! However, a jet of fire cut him off in the next moment! He looked up in time for Swampfire to nearly punch him right in the face! However, Darkstar caught the hit at the last moment!

"Come now, Benjy," Darkstar said. "We played this same song and dance once before. You know how it ends."

Using his free hand, he blasted Swampfire right in the chest! He was blown away and fell to the floor, his energy getting drained from his system! But just then, the wall of fire had begun to die out, and Moka jumped right through it, kicking Darkstar right into the wall!

Swampfire picked himself back up, rubbing his shoulder. "Yeah, well," he said, "I wasn't working with a vampire the last time, Michael."

The others grouped up around him, having beaten all the zombies, who were left moaning or crawling around on the ground. "So," Swampfire added, "it looks like you're outnumbered now. What's your move?"

Darkstar stood tall and held out a hand. Just when everyone expected him to fire off another beam of energy, he rose his hand upward, as if he were picking something up. That's when all the zombies that had just been beaten picked themselves back up and surrounded the group!

"What was that about being outnumbered?" Darkstar asked smugly. As the zombies descended upon the group once again, Darkstar just looked on and laughed! "Oh, how I love this Keystone! While those who I'd completely drained last time transformed into mindless zombies, with this Keystone, I can now control them! The hypnotism I had purely on women before can now be amplified to have those who I've drained bend to my every whim!"

Swampfire knocked aside some zombies as he charged to Darkstar, transforming into Ultimate form at the last moment! However, Darkstar merely aimed his hand at the ground and created an explosion that sent the evolved Methanosian back! "While I would love to stay and watch," Darkstar said, "I overheard what you said before about one of your friends taking the Philosopher's Stone away. So I must be off. Farewell, Benjy." With a mighty leap, he shot right through the floor of the building!

"No!" Ultimate Swampfire yelled. He knocked aside several zombies with a single backhand, before running up to the hole that Darkstar had flown through!

"We got this!" Danny said, blasting away zombies with an energy slice! "Go take care of that Darth Vader ripoff!"

Ultimate Swampfire nodded in reply, before transforming to pursue! Outside, Jake was flying down the streets as fast as he could, carrying Hinami on his back, with the Philosopher's Stone in his hands. Unfortunately, a blast from Darkstar hit him and knocked them to the ground! Jake shook his head as he pushed himself back up, Hinami moaning in pain as she lay on the ground.

Jake instantly leapt over and shielded her with his body, just as Darkstar fired more draining energy at him! Jake was able to fend off the pain for a moment, as he felt his power leave him slowly but surely! Darkstar merely walked over to him confidently.

"Such a poor show," he said. "And here I was hoping the American Dragon would be a little bit stronger." He finally shot a blast of energy that blew Jake down the street, scoffing at the easy manner in which he defeated him.

His eyes fell upon Hinami, who had sat back up, but was trembling in fear as she looked at Darkstar. "Now sit there, ghoul," he said. "Or else I may have to hurt you too."

Darkstar walked over to the Philosopher's Stone, holding his hands out to it. However, Jake flew over and slammed him to the ground! "No you don't!" the dragon yelled. He knocked Darkstar into the air with his tail, before slashing across his helmet with a claw!

Darkstar was not impeded however, as he merely socked Jake in the gut, before firing another energy blast that sent Jake to his knees! He then grabbed Jake by the neck, and began draining more of his energy, enough to totally revert him back to his human form! "I don't appreciate your annoyance, dragon," Darkstar said. "Now stay out of my way."

He tossed Jake to the ground, before resuming his walk to the Philosopher's Stone. Suddenly, he held out a hand, firing a beam of dark energy into the sky! He caught Ben, who had transformed into Stinkfly, causing him to drop to the ground! He too transformed into human form, before colliding with the pavement on the road, Darkstar cutting off his attack.

"Honestly Benjy," Darkstar said, "your efforts are futile. With the Keystone, I can drain all of you dry within seconds. And once I obtain the Philosopher's Stone, I will be unstoppable."

Ben struggled to stand, looking at Darkstar with contempt. "Not gonna happen," he said. "I'll stop you. Like I always do."

"Ah, yes," Darkstar said. "But tell me, Benjy, how do you intend to do that this time? For you have never stopped me alone. You've always had your irksome cousin with you to back you up, and even Levin whenever he was being useful. But now you're all alone and I've finally outsmarted that cousin of yours. The only help you have now are a few mongrel creatures that are nothing more than parasites to me."

"A bit hypocritical of you," Ben said, "calling them 'parasites' Michael."

Darkstar merely rolled his eyes, before firing off another beam of energy! Ben quickly rolled to the side, before he and Jake tackled Darkstar in the gut! Darkstar brought down his fists on the back of both their necks, before sweeping them away with his arms! He backhanded Jake to the ground, before grabbing Ben by the throat and holding him up in the air!

Darkstar continued draining Ben's energy from his physical contact, causing Ben's skin to pale and leave him looking sickly weak! But even with this, he began to punch Ben in the face numerous times, bending his nose out of shape and causing blood to begin to pour out of it, a black eye also starting to form over his right eye, with more bruises forming around his face! He tried reaching for the Omnitrix, but he couldn't manage it in the frequency of Darkstar's attacks! Darkstar finally tossed Ben to the ground, where he bounced across the road and nearly scream at the flaring pain in his gut!

Jake got up to try and help, but Darkstar merely punched him down as well, before picking him up and tossing him hard enough into a car to bend the side of it! "Both of you are insects," Darkstar said. "Neither of you have what it takes to stop me."

"Now if you please." As he said this, he walked towards the Philosopher's Stone once again. But even now, he felt something grab his ankle and hold him back. He looked down to see Ben holding onto him, his face mangled and broken, but still looking on in defiance.

"You must be joking," Darkstar said. He easily kicked off Ben's hand, before proceeding to stomp on Ben's back over and over and over again! All Ben could do in his weakened state was cry out in pain as he felt Darkstar continue to grind him into the dirt!

Nearby, Hinami watched on, totally petrified! Tears were streaming down her face, terrified by the villain that was more than likely wanting to kill her! But beyond that, she began to feel very, very angry.

Ben and the others were Touka's friends, and she wanted them to be her friends too. Ben was funny and kind, he showed that as she watched him, willing to help the girls out in their situation and act as a leader. He didn't even care that Touka and Hinami were ghouls. So watching Darkstar beat him down like that, was enough to make her filled with fury.

"Stop it!" she yelled. From out of nowhere, her own Kagune burst from her back and swarmed towards Darkstar! The first was a pair of Rinkaku Kagune, a pair that looked like flexible red spines that each stabbed through Darkstar's shoulders!

Darkstar screamed in pain as blood gushed from his wounds! He was pulled towards her, as her second Kagune, the Koukaku Kagune burst from her back like a pair of giant flower petals, and smashed Darkstar in a painful sandwich! And the entire time as she did this, she was screaming!

"Don't hurt my friends!" she yelled. "Why can't you just leave them alone! Stop hurting them! I hate you!"

As her assault continued, a wave of blackness flowed from Darkstar, up her Kagune, and eventually hit her too! She moaned for a second, before dropping down, her energy drained in a second! Her Kagune fell limp, as Darkstar staggered to his feet. He walked forward, fists clenched.

"You little beast," he said. "Vile creature. Thinking you can lay a limb on me…"

As Ben watched him bring up a fist, clearly ready to backhand her, Ben himself was filled with astronomical rage! He finally pressed down on the Omnitrix, transforming into Rath! He leapt forward and grabbed Darkstar's wrist, breaking it in a moment from the force of how hard he clenched!

"Let me tell you something, Michael Morningstar," Rath said, as threatening as he's ever been heard before, "you lay a hand on her, and you will have no mercy from me."

He jammed a talon into one of the wounds formed by Hinami, causing Darkstar to cry out in even more pain! Darkstar fell to his knees as Rath continued to loom over him! "Tell me something, Michael Morningstar," Rath said. "Do you got anything to say now!?"

"Ye...yes," Darkstar replied. "Did you really think you were winning? Because, I don't know if you can recall, but I can use my powers from a distance."

Before Rath could stop him, Darkstar shot a beam towards the Philosopher's Stone, the energy transfer enough to scorch Rath's side and have him cry out in pain! Great light shone from the energy, as Darkstar held up his other hand and shot Rath clean off his feet! He rolled across the ground, transforming back into human form!

"Incredible!" Darkstar said. "This power is truly incredible! And that is only from a fraction of its true power! With the full strength of the Philosopher's Stone flowing through me, I shall be unstoppable!"

He held out his hands to the Philosopher's Stone, pulling the rest of its power right into his body! A blinding light overtook everything, as Ben felt nothing but numbness in his body! When he opened his eyes, it was as if the sun had come out there was so much light in the middle of the street.

As he turned around, however, he found it was not the sun, but Darkstar himself. He had removed his helmet, revealing the golden membrane that had formed over his body that glowed a bright light, with his hair having grown long and standing upward as it crackled with power, and even his eyes had become pure spotlights! As he looked over himself, he laughed maniacally!

"Finally. Darkstar, reigns supreme!"

* * *

_**A/N: This one took a bit longer to finish than I had thought. However, I wanted to portray this as best as I could, but now I'm satisfied with it.**_

_**For starters, we get Annabeth and Moka finally making amends. The two had been at it since the start, and now they're finally able to make amends and come together. Believe it or not, I had the idea of Annabeth preparing meat for Touka way earlier. I know it might seem messed up, but it was one of those things where I did my best to rationalize it and explain her relationship with Touka. **__**Initially, I was going to have her buy and prepare the "meat" on her own time, but I didn't think it would fit with Annabeth's character, and would make more sense if she did it at Anteiku. **_

_**We also have a bit more vampire lore here. I did my best to establish the vampire weaknesses upfront so as not to worry much about explaining them leader, using Ben as the way in which to establish the rules and regulations of the vampires in here. I didn't so much as follow Rosario+Vampire lore here as much as I did try going for more grounded vampire reality based on what most accounts report, hence why staking, which as far as I recall does not kill them in Rosario+Vampire, is reported to work, or why decapitation is possible. Yeah, I don't exactly know whether or not that one should count considering it's not really a popular reference.**_

_**But finally, the big one. The one who is truly responsible for all this was not Hex, but rather the other Ben 10 villain, Darkstar. I hope that the twist worked enough. Not so much to be a jarring transition, but at least makes enough sense so as not to come totally out of left field, either! I've always loved Darkstar, there's just something about him I really like (mostly in Alien Force). So, I knew I wanted him to be the big bad of the opening act!**_

_**Not much else to say. I hope you enjoyed reading, leave any suggestions for different characters or possible scenarios you want to see in the future. And until next time, I'll see you all later!**_


	6. Pathos: Part 6

**The Ones Who Bump Back:**

Pathos:

Pt. 6.

* * *

**Chapter Six: Snuff Out the Light.**

Ben Tennyson felt like a truck hit him. His body positively stung in agony! He trembled as he did everything he could to recover, as a ringing pounded in his head!

"Be-Ben? Y-you're hurting me," he heard a small voice say. He managed to open his eyes, as he looked down to see Hinami clutched in his arms. Apparently he had been trying to shield her with his body.

"Oh, sorry," he said. "I was... I blacked out there for a second."

"It's okay," Hinami replied. "I... I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

Ben smiled weakly. "It's okay," he said. "You did great back there." That made Hinami smile in turn.

Ben let her go gently, standing up to survey the damage of Darkstar's attack. A giant circle of ash was left behind where Darkstar had once been standing. The Philosopher's Stone, now sufficiently drained and no longer glowing, had been jammed into a wall. Chunks of buildings had been blown off, or were set on fire, and dozens of people were out to look upon the incident and help those that had been hurt.

"How..." Ben said. "How did we survive?" He asked this as he looked at nearby cars, which had been melted or had chunks blown off them as well.

"You have me to thank for that," Ben heard Danny say. He looked nearby, and saw Danny was standing next to him, in human form. Not far away, the girls and Jake appeared to be recovering from their own bout as well.

"We managed to knock out those zombies and came running," Danny said. "The only shame is the fact that we were too late to stop Darkstar. But when we saw you guys in danger I threw up some forcefields to... protect us~"

A nosebleed appeared on Danny's face as he fell over backwards! Clearly protecting everyone from that explosion of energy took a lot out of him. "Uh..." Ben said. "Why don't you take a load off?" That elicited a thumbs up from the ghost boy.

Ben walked over to the others, hoping to check up on them. "How's everyone doing?" he asked.

"I feel like a puppy that was raped by a bulldozer," Touka said.

"But other than that," Annabeth replied, "we're just peachy."

"Dude," Jake said, pointing at Ben as he still lay on his back, staring up at the sky, "you need to get some easier villains to fight. That guy left me feeling like a raisin."

"Yeah, Michael has that affect on people," Ben said. "But we can worry about that later. We got a walking Philosopher's Stone out there right now, so we gotta find him and stop him before he does who knows what with that amount of energy. So who's with me?"

Everyone else merely moaned in ehxaustion. Ben let his arms slump over in defeat as he looked at his monstrous companions. "Uh, Ben?" Hinami said, tugging on his jacket, "it doesn't look like they're gonna be helping."

"Yeah, that's become increasingly clear to me," Ben replied.

"Could you at least give us a minute to recover?" Touka asked. She promptly rolled over onto her stomach, face first in the road, waving a hand at him as if she were a stubborn kid not wanting to get out of bed. "We'll find your bad guy once we've recovered enough to breathe."

Ben was not taking this, however, as he walked over to Touka and planted a foot directly on her butt. She yelpped in surprise, glaring at him with a ferocious look! "Tennyson!" she shrieked. "Get your foot off of my ass!"

"Not until you agree to help me catch Michael. Now!" Ben replied. Annabeth and Jake couldn't help but snicker immaturely at the exchange going on at the moment.

"If you don't move your foot," Touka said, "the only thing you're gonna be catching, is a spike directly in your dick!"

"So you do have some energy in there," Ben said smugly, promptly moving before the ghoul he was messing with could retaliate.

Touka was left spluttering and growling in exasperation, Hinami laughing at her expense. Not far away, Ben caught sight of Moka, who was not moving as she lay on the road. "Hey guys," he said, "is... is Moka going to be okay?"

"Hm?" Annabeth asked. She looked at the vampire in question, rolling her over and looking at her face. "Moka," she said, "can you hear me?"

"She's been pretty exhausted today," Jake said, trying to help sit Moka up. "It's not like she isn't a trained figther, but today in addition to being tied down by poisonous flowers for several minutes and drenched in water just before, she exhausted whatever yoki she had to take down Hex, _and _she hasn't drank any blood today save for... well, me not long before we met up with you guys!"

"Will she be okay?" Ben asked.

"She'll be fine," Annabeth replied. "But right now we just need to wake her up so she can feed. Moka, wake up!"

After getting knocked out by what felt like the sun itself, Moka found herself able to feel the blood in the air around her. The flowing essence of power that was pumped through the bodies of every living creature. She could smell it. It was insatiable!

She could hear somebody nearby, but their voice sounded far away. Their attempts to get her attention were in vain as their touches were reduced to mere pricks against her skin. The smell of the blood and the feeling of it in the air was all there was to her. Even her vision was obscured by an absolute wall of red, her eyes being pulled to whatever source of blood she could find, but it was absolutely everywhere!

It was getting to be too much! If she didn't stop now she'd be reduced to a mere animal! But that wasn't her at all. She was a monster. A proud creature. A vampire.

But she could already feel her body losing control. The skin and very muscles along her eyebrows, cheeks, and lips were peeled back, jutting out her eyes and perpetually baring her fangs! Her ears pointed outward, as her body turned cold, her skin must have been turning bleached white!

Finally, she could feel it right in front of her. As if a - had been presented to her. It flipped a switch inside of her, allowing her to promptly bite down upon the neck of whatever unfortunate creature had let themselves in the presence of the hungry vampiress!

From the moment the first bits of blood entered her system she soon regained awareness of the world around her. Her body regained its normal shape too as she felt her vision fully restore. That's when she realized what she was biting was not in fact a neck, but an arm. And it was the arm that belonged to Annabeth.

"H-hey Moka," she said, sounding weak. "Good to see you're back. Just keep going. I can keep this up all day if I have to." As if to confirm that she was fine, she stroked Moka's silvery-pink hair gently.

Nearby, Ben was staring at his vampiric companion with a look of abject horror on his face! "What... the hell... was that?" he asked.

"That," Touka replied, standing right beside him, "was a vampire when they have become deprived of blood. Not a pretty sight."

"Well no shit!" Ben replied, throwing an arm in the air!

As if responding to the commentary, a loud 'pop!' was heard. The hero, ghoul, and neighboring dragon all looked to see Moka get to her feet, wiping the distinctive red from her mouth. "S-sorry," she said, somewhat cringing at their comments. "I... I try not to let that happen."

"Don't worry about it," Ben replied. "Now then, with all of us awake..." He turned to Danny, who was the only one still on the ground. "Well, most of us," he added, "let's get to work on trying to stop Darkstar!"

"Ben," Annabeth said, "even if we're all awake, we're exhausted! Do you really think we're going to be able to fight Darkstar in our condition, especially now that he's superpowered?"

"We have to," Ben replied certainly. "Because right now I'm afraid we might be the only ones who _can _fight him. And so long as we can still stand up, we have to at least try."

"But how?" Jake asked. "How do you think we fight him?"

"Well," Ben replied, "considering the twinkie analogy from before, we now know he's got enough energy at his disposal to turn this entire city into a crater. So we have to do what we normally do in a situation like this when it comes to Darkstar, and find a way to drain his battery."

"But how do we do that?" Annabeth asked. "Even if we fought him for hours, it'd take an eternity for him to actually use up the energy from the Philosopher's Stone."

"There has to be a way to do it faster," Jake said.

"The only way to conceivably do that," Touka said, "is to transfer the energy back into the Philosopher's Stone."

"Do you have an idea of how to do that?" Moka asked.

Ben smiled in delight. "I do," he said.

Finding Darkstar was not hard whatsoever. He left a path of drained bodies everywhere behind him. None of them got back up as the group continued running, since Darkstar probably didn't see any reason to use the army of controlled victims any longer When they found Darkstar himself, it had become rather apparent that he was even more powerful than they had thought.

He was floating twenty feet in the air, arms tucked casually behind his back within a sphere of golden light about ten feet in diameter. Whips of golden energy were flowing off of his body, snagging onto whatever poor soul was in his path, draining them in a moment's notice! He didn't even need to move to drain whatever person was in his way!

"Remember the plan everybody," Ben said. "Moka, Danny, and I will be the ones to get in his way. The rest of you act as support if there is no other way. You're all the most likely to get taken out first. No offense."

"None taken," Touka said, positioning her Rabbit mask over her face. "Just save a few shots for me."

"Okay team," Ben said, "it's hero time!"

Ben transformed into Cannonbolt, before promptly turning into Ultimate Cannonbolt, launching himself straight at Darkstar! However, he promptly bounced off of Darkstar's energy shield, only managing to knock Darkstar aside, still hovering about five feet in the air! Darkstar held out a hand to Ultimate Cannonbolt, sending a beam of energy that blew him right into a rooftop!

Ultimate Cannonbolt pushed himself back up, his armored plating deflecting the energy blast! "Well, Benjy," Darkstar said, floating up to the roof, "I must say, I'm flattered you jumped straight to your ultimate transformation. For whatever good it does you when you are facing the power of a god."

Ultimate Cannonbolt launched himself right back at Darkstar, opening up and slamming a punch against the shield, sending the villain back towards the ground! The enhanced Arburian Pelarota landed on top of him, sending Darkstar into the road. Darkstar rose back to the air, firing another beam of energy that overtook Ultimate Cannonbolt's body, blasting his unprotected skin and sending him away in a smoking wreck!

"Sorry to disappoint you, Benjy," Darkstar said, "but even your evolved form cannot break through my energy shield."

"Since… when do gods…" Cannonbolt said, standing back up, "need energy shields?"

Darkstar looked baffled for a moment, before he merely held out a hand, palm aimed upward, and caused the very road beneath Ultimate Cannonbolt to explode! Before he could fully soak in his victory, watching as Ultimate Cannonbolt fell away, Danny flew right into the shield, attempting to phase through it! Only, to his disappointment, it didn't work and he just slammed against the sphere of energy, sliding off of it. Darkstar grabbed Danny in an energy tendril and tossed him right back towards the rest of the group, who were hiding in an alleyway, sliding across the sidewalk on his face!

"Did you really think that'd work?" Touka asked.

"Well," Danny replied, "I could have hoped, right?" He jumped comically in the air, just as another wave of energy was shot in his direction!

Danny fired off a beam of his own Ecto-Energy at Darkstar, but to no avail. The attack merely connected with Darkstar's energy shield, before the villain sent his own wave of power that blasted Danny right into the distance, where he fell out of sight!

"Well Moka," Annabeth said. "I think now is as good a time as any to get that pink butt of yours in there."

"Right," Moka replied, nodding in agreeance. "Give me an opening."

Annabeth nodded, as she shot from the alleyway alongside Touka, with Jake flying after Darkstar in his dragon form! He tackled the villain from behind, surprising him momentarily, as he brought down hit after hit on the shield with his claws, before breathing a jet of fire! "Oh, the dragon," Darkstar said casually. "Did you think you could surprise me?"

With a wave of Darkstar's hand, Jake felt his energy getting drained from his system! "You dragons have power," he said, "but you are just like the rest. Merely a bag of mana that I may drain."

Jake screamed in pain, before getting utterly drained. He transformed back into his human form and got tossed aside by Darkstar. Ben saw Jake hit the ground, gaping at how he was drained of power almost instantaneously!

Darkstar laughed in delight! "Surprised, Tennyson?" he asked. "With both the Keystone of Bezel and the power of the Philosopher's Stone, I can drain you and your friends within seconds! Even a dragon!"

The next moment, Annabeth's dagger bounced off of Darkstar's energy shield. The villain turned, raising an eyebrow at that attempt. Touka, who was standing next to Annabeth, turned her head to the Half-Blood.

"Did you think that would work?" Touka asked. "Well," Annabeth replied, "I… I hoped that celestial bronze would get through."

Darkstar casually hovered down in front of them. "I must admit," he said, "I'm entertained by watching the both of you try to fight me when neither of you have anything you could do to me. But I must ask, what do you intend to do?"

"Not us," Touka said, "her."

It was there that Moka made her move. She ran at Darkstar from behind, jumping up and delivering a roundhouse kick that sent the villain flying! With his spherical energy shield, he bounced off of the walls of buildings, before connecting with the ground and going into a roll!

Using her incredible speed, Moka ran over and delivered a massive kick that sent Darkstar right into the air! She leapt after him, sending another kick that blew Darkstar back towards the ground! He connected with a building and stuck there, as Moka came back down and delivered a judo chop that drove him right back towards the ground!

Darkstar shook his head as Moka landed on top of his shield, kicking straight onto it, attempting to break through! Darkstar held out a hand, blasting Moka off her feet, parts of her clothes now either partially burnt or shredded!

"You're no better than your friends, vampire," Darkstar said. "Even the power of a vampire is minuscule compared to me now! Fighting me is pitiful!"

A storm of spikes from Touka's Ukaku nailed the back of Darkstar's energy field, causing him to turn back to her! "The only one here who's pitiful," Touka said, "is you!"

Before Darkstar could retaliate, a storm of diamonds added to the assault from the other side! Darkstar turned, seeing Diamondhead riding a large diamond that he promptly kicked towards the energy shield! The diamond crumpled against it, same with all the other attacks!

Darkstar fired an energy attack at Touka next, prompting the ghoul to shield herself with her hardened Kagune! The blast shattered her ghoul limb, sending her screaming in pain down the road!

Annabeth ran up alongside her, attempting to carry her to safety! She couldn't help but curse herself internally over the fact that she couldn't fight Darkstar herself due to his power being incredibly out of her league, and with her having no means to attack him! Diamondhead leapt in next to shield them, arms turned into diamond spikes that he brought against the energy field! Darkstar laughed as he sent a blast that overtook Diamondhead and sent him right into a wall!

Darkstar then casually hovered over to Annabeth and Touka, sending a blast close to their feet that sent them to the ground! Glowing energy reached out to them, ready to drain their power! Moka had recovered by this point, and seeing her friends in danger, she launched herself to Darkstar once again! She football tackled Darkstar aside, severing his connection, before following up by slashing at the shield with multiple chops and kicks! The energy vampire turned to the literal vampire, frowning at her continued attempts to stop him. "You've officially gone from amusing," he said, "to irksome."

Moka continued fighting the energy shield, as Darkstar hovered just over the road, blasting her with a draining attack, her mana - or yoki - getting sucked from her form! "Oh sure," Darkstar said, "you may have the power of a vampire, but all your great energy is mine!"

Jake helped Annabeth and Touka out of there, no longer able to maintain his dragon form! The three of them huddled in an alleyway, Jake the only one able to stand. "Guh, this sucks!" he said. "None of us are able to land a hit on him!"

"We just have to hope Ben's plan works," Touka said.

Diamondhead got back up next, and saw Darkstar continuing to battle Moka. Darkstar stopped draining her, and blasted her down the street with an explosive blast! "Unimportant woman," he said. "You're hardly worth my time."

Diamondhead pressed his Omnitrix emblem, transforming into Shocksquatch! The white yeti-like creature sent a blast of electricity from his mouth that hit Darkstar dead on! The villain turned to see Shocksquatch leap towards him and bash on the shield with electrified fists!

"That woman fights for this world as hard as any hero," he said. "You're dealing with my friends Darkstar and you will show them respect!"

With one more wave, Darkstar blasted Shocksquatch off the shield! Darkstar turned back to Moka, who was still struggling to stand. He then turned to the three huddled in the alleyway.

"Does anyone else have the strength to fight me?" he asked. His eyes rose to the tops of the buildings they were hiding between, firing an energy attack! Rubble fell down and collapsed on top of the group!

Shocksquatch growled angrily, as he fired more electricity that Darkstar merely blocked! He fired energy tendrils at the creature, pulling him towards the shield! Seeing Ben transform back into his human form, Darkstar pulled him through the energy field and grabbed Ben by the collar of his shirt.

"How does it feel, Benjy?" Darkstar asked. "To be totally beaten and disempowered, despite wearing the strongest device in the universe? Along with your allies having been bested by me."

"Well," Ben replied, "the thing is, I don't have anything to prove to you. Oh sure, you outsmarted me by sending me in the wrong direction. But now that I've had time to myself, I'm the one who's outsmarting you. Now Fenton!"

Suddenly, Danny appeared out of Ben's body, flying right for Darkstar shouting, "trick or treat, freak!" He flew into Darkstar's body, attempting to overshadow him! Darkstar held his head in pain, attempting to fight off the ghost to no avail!

Both he and Ben landed on the ground, the energy shield vanishing, as Ben reactivated the Omnitrix! "Hold him down, Danny!" he said. He transformed into Chromastone, putting a hand to Darkstar's chest. "We've got one shot at this!"

Touka knocked the rubble off her, Jake and Annabeth off, having protected them with her hardened Kagune. Moka managed to run over to the group, carrying the Philosopher's Stone on her back, placing it by Chromastone's feet. The four took a few steps back, as the Crystalsapien readied himself.

"Alright then," Chromastone said, "let's go Ultimate!" With his other hand, he transformed into a larger form of Chromastone. His face turned pure red, as his arms became large red crystals, with clawed fingers, rows of spines on the back of them. Large purple crystals dotted his shoulders, massive red crystals appearing on his back, and the horn on his head grew longer, with two more almost giving him a mohawk on his head.

"Now hold on Danny," he said. "Let's finish this!" He put his other hand over to the Philosopher's Stone, as energy began to flow in pure whiteness from Darkstar into Ultimate Chromastone's body!

However, Darkstar proved to not be out for the count just yet! "No!" he screamed! "No!" In an explosion, Ultimate Chromastone's hand that was holding him was knocked aside! To make matters worse, Danny came tumbling out of Darkstar's body, tendrils of gold holding him like a puppet!

In a manner of seconds, Danny transformed back to his human form, before getting dropped to the ground! Ultimate Chromastone held a hand to Darkstar, but the golden energy vampire held a hand out to him, causing the ground beneath his feet to explode! The evolved Crystalsapien rolled across the ground in a smoking heap, Darkstar laughing victoriously!

"You will not best me, Tennyson!" he said, taking back to the air. "Not when I've come so close to victory!" He aimed his head towards the rest of the group, grinning maniacally! "None of you shall best me."

Moka stood in front of the others, arms outstretched. "Leave them alone," she said. "You won't touch any of them!" "Oh please," Darkstar said. "Do you really think you have enough strength left to battle me?"

He sent her back in an explosion, knocking her into a wall that crumbled to dust around her! Annabeth and Touka locked eyes, as Jake ran over to protect them! Darkstar merely smiled as Jake tried transforming back into a dragon, only to get knocked around by Darkstar with minimal effort!

Back with the Half-Blood and the ghoul, Annabeth pulled down the shoulder of her shirt and pushed aside her bra-strap, exposing her whole shoulder. "What are you doing?" Touka asked.

"Bite me," Annabeth said. "Get a decent chunk out so you can regain your power."

Touka looked at Annabeth with a mildly impressed expression, before shrugging it off. "You already let Moka drain you earlier," she said. "Quit being so chivalrous."

"Touka, we need you to be strong!" Annabeth said. "You can fight him!"

"And I said," Touka said, "quit being chivalrous!"

Darkstar watched the exchange with mild interest. "You two do realize," he said, "that you were in the middle of fighting me?" He held out a hand, as two energy draining beams shot into the two of them! Holding up his other hand, Darkstar sent two more beams at Danny and Jake, draining both the ghost and dragon of what energy was left there!

"Okay..." Annabeth said to Touka, as her body began to wrinkle like a raisin! "Let's promise... no more arguing?"

"Deal," Touka replied.

Ultimate Chromastone had recovered by this point, and lifted his hand back up to attack! Darkstar caught sight of him, and sent an energy tendril out of his back! Ultimate Chromastone was unable to protect himself as the blast hit him square in the chest! Ultimate Chromastone found himself in some kind of an energy tug of war, struggling to keep his energy from being pulled out of his body, whilst simultaneously trying to take energy from Darkstar! Unfortunately, Darkstar proved himself an excellent multitasker, as not only was he able to continue this game, but succeeded in totally draining the rest of the team within a moment's notice, leaving them as withered husks on the ground!

Moka finished pushing herself from the rubble. She felt her energy reserves running low again and saw how Darkstar had been able to defeat her allies all at once! She took a deep breath, aware of one last trick she had up her sleeve. She just had to hope it'd work.

She walked forward dramatically, not looking at the desecrated bodies of her friends as she moved. Darkstar noticed her, smirking in delight as he held a hand out to her. "Ah yes," he said, "I nearly forgot about you, girl."

Before Darkstar could attack her, Moka had launched herself into the air and sucker-punched Darkstar right into a wall! Having been embedded upon it, he couldn't react before Moka had crawled up the wall and kicked him into the neighboring building! He slid across the wall, digging a trench in the side of it, before crashing into the sidewalk, Moka walking over to him once again!

Darkstar pushed himself back up on his hands and knees, sending another blast that drained more of Moka's power! But this time, she merely ran straight through it, punting Darkstar into the air! He slammed against a wall before he fell to the ground, groaning in pain!

Moka walked right over to him, only a few beads of sweat on her face. "How?" Darkstar asked. "How do you still have so much power?"

"Because," Moka replied, "I have a Wealth of Power." A red and black aura flared through Moka's body, as Darkstar found himself seeing dark colors in his eyes while looking into Moka's face!

"I was holding back my true strength," Moka said. "But you can take it, can't you big man? So now, I've officially stopped playing nice." In a burst of black and red, Moka transformed into something else. Her hair was totally silver once again, arms and legs now sheathed in black armor, a pair of large bat wings were on her back, and she was now adorned in a pure white dress.

"No…" Darkstar said. He held out a hand, but it was too late. In a blur of motion Moka came right up to him, delivering a roundhouse kick that sent Darkstar straight into the air!

Darkstar connected back with the road, as Moka ran over to him, grabbed him by the neck, and threw him into another building! Darkstar bounced off of that as well, before Moka kicked him to the air, leaping after him! Darkstar was screaming as Moka flew up to him, slamming him with punches across the cheeks, before she grabbed his neck!

"This is what happens when you mess with a vampire, darling," she said. "So, know your place." She kicked Darkstar back down to the ground, as he screamed all the way down!

He landed in a billow of smoke, no longer able to rise! Moka landed on the ground, looking back at the recovered Ultimate Chromastone! "Now Ben!" she said. "Finish it!"

Ultimate Chromastone threw her a thumbs up, as he ran over to Darkstar, picking him up, as he held his other hand out to the Philosopher's Stone! Energy crackled from Ultimate Chromastone's body, as he pulled the energy from Darkstar's form, sending it right back into the Stone! Darkstar screamed as Ultimate Chromastone felt every ounce of energy through his form, causing him to groan uncomfortably! Bright light was flowing from their forms, nearly blinding the others!

Finally, the light became too great, obscuring everything! When it died down, Darkstar fell over on his back, his face becoming gray and zombie-like, indicating the loss of power. Ben transformed back into his human form, stumbling before falling onto his back, gasping for breath!

Nearby, the others that Darkstar had drained had their mana restored. The group all got to their feet, surveying the situation. "You... you guys did it?" Danny asked.

"Yes we did," Moka said, returning to her own normal form, dropping to the ground herself. "And now... I'm spent."

"Then," Touka said, removing her mask, "we've won."

Annabeth walked over to Ben, seeing how the Bearer of the Omnitrix had become paled after his encounter, still scant of breath. Annabeth held out her hand, helping Ben to his feet.

Darkstar moaned as he struggled to sit up. He saw the group all looming over him, telling him not to try getting away. "Don't even think about it," Danny said, eyes glowing green.

"He's right Michael," Ben said, "you're finished. Just accept it."

Darkstar shook his head. "No," he said. "I will not let you best me. I won't be beaten by some mongrel Dark Realm monsters!"

Suddenly, his face dropped, a hint of fear in his eyes. "I… I cannot afford to lose," he said. Suddenly, a red vortex ripped open behind him with a screeching sound!

"Michael, no!" Ben said. However, he was haltered when he saw pale gray hands come from the portal, pulling Darkstar inside! Clearly, the indication was that it was not Darkstar himself that had opened that portal in an attempt to escape.

The group could only look to one another as an eerie silence hung in the air. Finally, it was broken with Jake asking a question that everyone was wondering. "What the frock?"

"Where did he go?" Touka asked.

"I don't know," Ben replied. "But from his face, he looked like he wasn't leaving by choice. I have a feeling that we'll see him again."

* * *

"One tall hot white mocha!"

Ben took the glass happily, offering Touka a playful wink as he blew softly on it to help it cool, before taking a sip. Next to him, Jake looked with a curious expression.

"You do know," Jake said, "that it sounds kinda wrong for you to have that because of… you know. Who we know?"

"You read into it, not me," Ben replied. Jake spluttered uncomfortably as Ben snickered in victory. Touka, behind the counter, rolled her eyes. Ben caught this look and offered a hand out to her, catching her attention.

"Hey Touka," he said, "how're you feeling?"

"Uh… fine, Ben," she said. "I mean… still a little uncomfortable with that Philosopher's Stone still sitting under my roof."

"Hey," Jake said, "Annabeth did mention that Chiron wouldn't be able to take the Philosopher's Stone since he has no authority over it with it being an item limited to magic users, and it would only just cause drama for Camp Half-Blood."

"I know that," Touka replied. "But I truly can't complain. Darkstar is beaten and your cousin is contacting any magic user she can to help dispose of the stone."

"How is she doing, by the way?" Jake said.

"She's good," Ben replied. "Turns out after stealing the Keystone from her, Darkstar just had her going around in circles while she thought she was searching for the ones responsible for the mana incident. Worse off she got is just being steamed she let Michael twist her head like that."

"Well, give her my thanks," Touka replied.

"You could thank her in person," Ben said. "I mean, really look on the bright side of everything. It's a beautiful day, Darkstar is beaten - and while he escaped, it seemed like he was more afraid than anybody else about what took him - nobody was seriously hurt and all the victims he took and turned into zombies have been restored to normal, and you look beautiful, Touka."

Touka's face turned bright red! "Honestly Tennyson!" she said. "Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Ain't my fault that uniform looks flattering on you," Ben replied.

Nearby, Annabeth and Danny were watching from their own table. "Boy," Danny said, "I'm surprised with all his messing around that Touka hasn't just snapped and attacked him already, while she nearly breaks my face the moment I step out of line."

"What can I say?" Annabeth replied. "He's got charm and you don't."

"Good to see you still like me so much, Ann," Danny replied. "So, how're you doing after all this?"

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked.

"Well," Danny replied, "Darkstar wasn't one of your typical enemies. He wasn't some monster or demigod, he was just a really pissed off guy. A guy who made it so you couldn't properly fight him. So, I was just wondering if you were, you know, okay."

"I'm fine Danny," Annabeth replied, "thanks for asking. Truth be told, I hadn't really thought about any of it while it was happening."

"You seem to do that a lot," Danny replied, recalling how Annabeth had done the same thing with the 'meat' she got for Touka.

"Too soon," Annabeth said firmly. "Even still, I found the battle strangely nostalgic. Yes, Darkstar was nothing like the Titans, Giants, or their respective followers, and yet the same concept still applied. Protecting the world alongside friends and allies like me. It was nice."

"Guess it's genetic or something, huh?" Danny asked.

"I guess," Annabeth laughed.

"Hi! Hi!" Moka said, bursting through the front door. "Sorry I'm late! But I'm here! I just had to convince my father to let me out!"

Several of the cafe's regular customers looked at her in surprise, along with the other teens, causing Moka to blush slightly as she forgot that this was normal business hours for Anteiku. "It's cool," Ben replied to her.

"Guessing your dad was not happy about the fight?" Touka asked.

"Not at all," Moka replied, standing next to the bar. "But I just had to explain everything as best as I could. He was happy to hear we're friends again!"

"Well that's… nice," Touka said, face reddening once again.

"Boy Touka," Jake said, "you're easy to fluster right now, huh?"

"Maybe," Touka said, "part of it has to do with the fact that I'm supposed to be working right now, and yet I'm here talking to you?"

Moka giggled. "Well," she said, "sorry Touka. That's the price you pay for friends."

"And with Touka sufficiently flustered," Annabeth said, she and Danny walking over to the others, "why did we meet up again like this?"

"True enough," Jake said. "Not that I ain't cool with us just chillin now that everything's done."

"Well," Ben said, "I've been thinking a lot ever since we beat Darkstar, while we were cleaning ourselves up. You see, I have learnt a lot more about my world in the past day that I ever thought I could. Living for so long with my eyes pointed to the sky above, I hadn't ever thought about what things might be going on in my own world."

"From dealing with aliens for so long, several like things that I had always heard of as nothing more than myths and legends like werewolves, ghosts, and mummies, I never considered they might be real. And while the threat this time around really did turn out to be something that I had fought in the past, if the time comes where something from your guys' neck in the woods comes around and I find myself ready to stop it, I think it'd be good for us to stay in touch. To know who to call if we ever have something to deal with that is bigger than ourselves."

"So…" Danny said. "Like, making ourselves a super team of monster hunters?"

"In a manner of speaking," Ben replied. "I've learned a lot about the benefits of having a team on my back. Because there are a lot of things out there that are too big for you to handle alone, even when you have the most powerful weapon in the universe at your disposal. And sometimes the big things that you really have to worry about aren't just from space, but things that are crawling under the bed."

"The next time some big ghost or goblin that I can fight shows up, I want to be there to stop it. And I would be honored to have you fighting by my side. The six of us together can do a lot more together and we can have each others' backs, taking advantage of our own abilities and skills."

The others all looked to one another, smiles growing on most of their faces.

"I'm down with being on a team," Danny said. "Fighting alongside real heroes that see me as an equal would be refreshing."

"Same here," Jake said. "Being the American Dragon has its benefits, but being recognized for it is welcomed. So you can count me in too!"

"Well that's for the boys," Moka said. "What about you two?" she asked Annabeth and Touka.

"I don't know," Touka said. "Like I said at the start of all this, I don't see myself as a hero. I don't want to go around fighting anybody. I just want to be left alone."

"Come on Touka!" Moka said. "This can be your chance to truly make a difference! To do something good for somebody else! Don't just turn away from that!"

Touka looked Moka right in the eyes. Finally, she looked back to Annabeth. "What about you?" she asked. "What do you think about this?"

"Well," Annabeth said, "while I made a promise to live a quiet life… I agree with what Moka said. About making a difference. If you're down for this Touka, then I'll be there beside you."

Touka looked at Annabeth for a moment, before giving a sigh. "Then," she said, "I guess we're all a team."

"Whoo!" Jake cheered. "Oh yeah! This is awesome! So what do we call ourselves?"

"Who said we call ourselves anything?" Touka asked.

"Oh come on now, Touka," Danny said, "we gotta have a team name."

"No we don't," Annabeth replied. "The last team I was on didn't have a name. Not a legitimate one."

"Well that's tough," Jake said. "We're a team of superheroes, so we're gettin' a name!"

"We are not superheroes!" Touka said. "We're just doing what we can."

Ben smirked happily, unable to keep himself from chuckling. This team was definitely more colorful and full of energy than the last few teams he'd worked with. And in his heart, he was happy that he was not going to be alone as he continued his walk on the dark side.

* * *

Far from Ben and the others, in a vast dark space, Darkstar was laying on his back, staring into the void. His helmet was back on his head, and he moaned to himself as he recounted his failure. Topped by his inability to escape those that were asking for his aid.

"Defeated again," he said slowly. "Tennyson bested me again. Not even with the aid of Gwendolyn, but by some mongrels from the Dark Realm. This cannot be how it ends for me."

"Well what do we have here?" a voice asked, piercing the silence of the void. An aged, but knowledgeable voice, as a form wearing a dark suit came closer to Darkstar. "I must say, Michael Morningstar, I am disappointed in your progress. My allies tell me that you failed to retain any of the power from the Philosopher's Stone, or even the Keystone of Bezel, and now Benjamin Tennyson has a group of allies at his back."

"I was at my strongest," Darkstar replied. "Such unbridled power at my disposal, with Tennyson and his allies at my knees. And still, Tennyson turned around and overcame me. Not by his own hand, but by the hand of some vampire child. Send somebody else after him, I am done."

"Is that your final answer?" the voice asked. "I ask this on account of you having a binding contract to take care of Benjamin Tennyson. To get him out of our hair as it were. But here we find you moping and brooding. Do you not remember what happens to those that violate their contracts?"

"It can be no worse," Darkstar replied, "than the constant pain and humiliation I have, and will continue to have, at the hands of Ben Tennyson, his cousin, or Charmcaster."

"Oh, but I dare say it can," the voice replied. With a snap of their fingers, Darkstar suddenly began screaming at the top of his lungs. "For that my friend is what will happen to you should you deliberately or inadvertently violate your contract. Now we ask only that you continue to hunt Benjamin Tennyson for us, regardless of any vampire that may or may not be at his side. And you do not have to worry your head over her, for we have others to take care of her. So, do we have an agreement?"

Finally, Darkstar was released, where he gave his response. "As you wish… sir."

* * *

_**A/N: And so we end the first story arc of the series "Pathos". I'll admit, looking back on it, I could've fixed a lot of things. Most notably with the reveal of Darkstar as the main antagonist, although I blame that more on the overall "outline" of the story I was using that was inspired by the movie "Justice League: Dark". But I am overall happy with it. I may go back and revise it in the future, and am open to suggestions about how I could have improved it. In the meantime, however, I'm instead going to focus on continuing the narrative and creating more episodes.**_

_**I forgot to mention in the last chapter, but since it was more heavily focused upon in this one I'm not too guilty, we have Ben using his Ultimate transformations with the new Omnitrix. I am among the many that agree that Ben should've kept the Ultimate transformations, even if they weren't as focused upon as they could have been, with only a scant few transformations aside from the initially advertised ones like Swampfire, Big Chill, Echo Echo, and so on, that were included later on. But they could have kept them and added more later, and I was especially not fond of how they instead chose them to be a source of power for Albedo specifically in Omniverse, so I went with the idea that the new Omnitrix allowed it.**_

_**Also, I included a transformation that was not from the series, Ultimate Chromastone. Now I will be upfront and say that his design described in the story is based off of Ultimate10's Ben 10 crossover story that I could only ever dream of being as popular as, "Ultimate Fairy." I have no intention of plagiarizing his idea, and am being upfront by saying that it was inspired by his design. And naturally, I recommend checking out Ultimate Fairy if you're a fan of Ben 10 and Fairy Tail, or just Ben 10 crossovers in general (I would assume since you're reading this one ;)**_

_**And finally, we have the fact that Moka is the one who beat Darkstar. This goes in with a different problem I had, where I felt the fight between Darkstar could've been adjusted a tad, but the main reason why I felt Moka was the one to ultimately beat Darkstar was the fact that vampires are so astronomically powerful! I don't intend to make them overpowered (who do you think I am, Stephanie Myer?) but they're still incredibly strong due to their incredible wealth of mana, or yoki in their case. I had no doubt that even with being supercharged, Moka could power on through his energy drains by totally unleashing her strength, and a few good whacks would be more than enough to take him down! I also wanted to use this as a sign of showing that Moka is going to be a heavy hitter in the future.**_

_**The last note I'll make is, yes this does take place where Ben and Julie are in a relationship, although I do intend to have Ben move on to somebody else in the future. I'm not going to have her die, and I certainly am not going for the awful breakup they had in Omniverse, I just want to make it something more natural given their characters. I do kind of hope to pair Ben up with somebody else in the future, and I would love to hear what suggestions you have. **_

_**And with that all said, thank you so much for reading! Let me know what suggestions you guys have in the future for new characters or other situations like monsters to fight or places to go in the future! Have a fantastic day, and I'll see you next time!**_


	7. Major Changes Are Coming

I wanted to preface this by saying that I'm very grateful for those of you who have checked out this story. After a long period of reconsideration and working on other projects, I have decided to go over a lot of revisions for this story. Looking back on how it was, I was not happy with how it turned out to be.

I felt it was painfully rushed and riddled with basic writing. Henceforth, I will be redoing the series. While I have already redone the entire first chapter, upon finding more pieces of inspiration, even bigger changes may be due in the future that will make this far, far different to how it is currently. Even more than I was initially anticipating.

I will leave you with a list of things to expect going into the revised version of TOWBB:

1.) Annabeth will no longer be involved in this. Nothing against the character, as I still love Annabeth so much. However, upon reconsideration, I found that she stuck out far too much as literally every other character I had the thought to include originated from a cartoon or anime of some kind, or just an animated series in general, while Annabeth is the only book character. I tried to find more book characters to include, but none satisfied me. So, Annabeth had to go. I hope that does not hurt anyone too much.

2.) Moka will act more like her more widely recognized self, with the Inner and Outer selves intact instead of the After Story idea I was initially trying to handle. Quite frankly, I just find the concept both more appealing and more interesting. Not to mention, Outer Moka is a doll.

3.) The backstory between now Moka and Touka will be FAR different from what I had before. The backstory between them was something I was just not happy with, because it felt too basic and too angsty and overall just juvenile compared to the type of writer I pride myself on being.

Thank you all for your understanding. If you have any feedback or suggestions to make this story more of en enjoyable read, just based on the characters and concepts I have shown from this initial draft, please let me know. I'm planning to delete this version and upload a new one as soon as I can, so please move on to that one when you see it up.

I do hope to get this story out there and have it make waves, as I really enjoy this concept and hope that it resonates with other people. I know I'm kind of leaving a drop of water in a sea right now considering the vast number of Ben 10 X-Overs that exist already, but hopefully given time and with a better version to read, more people will find it.

So once again, thank you for your consideration and until next time, be sure to let me know your thoughts, and take care.


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